Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management staffers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory are preparing to return to onsite work starting Feb. 28, Lee Bishop, deputy designated federal officer for the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board said during an online meeting Wednesday.
“Not everybody is coming back into the office, some people have been approved to continue telework,” Bishop said. “A lot of us have been on telework for a couple of years, so it will be a change.”
“We have seen the COVID numbers coming down quite a bit,” and “hopefully it will be more like a common flu” in terms of impact,” Bishop said. The federal official noted Nevada recently dropped its mask mandate for public places. The day after the meeting, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) announced her state is also ending its indoor mask mandate immediately.
The DOE, however, which is returning more people to their pre-pandemic worksites in coming weeks, still requires indoor mask-wearing in high transmission areas for COVID-19. The DOE has also said homemade cloth masks are no longer sufficient, Bishop said. On another topic, Bishop said the advisory board will continue to hold “hybrid” meetings that enable online participation.
The Department of Energy and its major contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington state, local colleges and other stakeholders are planning a virtual career fair on Wednesday March 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
During the One Hanford Virtual Career Fair, attendees have the chance to speak with DOE and contractor representatives during individual virtual sessions on openings for positions ranging from contract specialists to truck drivers.
In addition to DOE, Hanford Site contractors Bechtel National, Central Plateau Cleanup Co., Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, HPMC Corporation and Washington River Protection Solutions will be participating.
A registration link is available here.
Rex Buck Jr., leader of the Wanapum tribe, which traditionally lived along the Columbia River near what is now the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, has died at age 66, the Tri-City Herald and other local newspapers reported this week.
Buck, chief of the Priest Rapids Band of the Wanapum, was active on issues concerning cleanup of the former plutonium production complex and its impact on native people in the area. He testified during an October 2019 National Academy of Sciences public meeting on Supplemental Treatment of Low-Activity Waste at Hanford. The local land was once “clean,” Buck said, telling the panel, “in my father’s time, he drank from the Columbia River.”
“Rex was thoughtful and sincere, a leader who took his responsibility to the land seriously, consistently ensuring that the department understood the perspectives and priorities of the Wanapum people,” Brian Vance, the DOE manager of the Hanford Site, is quoted as saying in the newspaper obituary.
