The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina had to set aside some N95-style masks last month after testing revealed the face wear could not filter enough particulates to be considered a personal respirator capable of protecting users from COVID-19.
The independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) disclosed the issue in its most recent monthly report on the Aiken, S.C., facility. Savannah River hosts cleanup operations overseen by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, along with nuclear security work under the aegis of the department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The latter work has continued in recent months, despite the site sending nearly everyone else, including most cleanup workers, home to telework during the COVID-19 pandemic.
SRS paid about $43,000 over a month-and-a-half for 8,450 KN95-rated masks that were made in China. After SRS took delivery, the FDA determined that these masks, along with other imports from China, were unsuitable for use as personal respirators. SRS decided to keep the masks, which can still be used as face coverings.
SRS has about 3,900 N95 respirators in reserve, “which is sufficient to meet the current forecasted need” for this type of personal protective equipment over about 90 days, a spokesperson for site management contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions wrote Thursday in an email.
NNSA headquarters has also had trouble getting hold of personal respirators that are supposed to filter out 95% of airborne particulates. The agency ordered 225,000 Chinese-made respirators certified to that nation’s KN-95 standard, essentially equivalent to the U.S. N95 standard for filtration, but will take delivery later than expected and at a higher price that anticipated.
In early May, just after the NNSA placed its order, the Food and Drug Administration forbade use of more than 50 Chinese-made masks as respirators after tests revealed the units could not match their advertised filtration capability. Among those caught in the ban was the undisclosed model ordered by the NNSA’s vendor, Atlanta-based small business American Dream Builders. The company has a $415,000 contract to deliver the respirators by June 29.
