With COVID-19 cases in and around the sites on the rise, the Y-12 National Security Complex and Pantex Plant are transitioning to mission critical operations and kicking out just about everyone who wasn’t already teleworking.
There are at least two confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Y-12, the Oak Ridge, Tenn., defense-uranium hub where contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) manages manufacturing of nuclear-weapon secondary stages. It is also where CNS team-lead Bechtel National is building the next-generation Uranium Processing Facility to replace the World War II-era Building 9212.
Those tasks will continue, a CNS spokesperson said, but any nonssential personnel are now being told to leave the site until further notice, joining their colleagues who were already teleworking.
Pantex, in Amarillo, Texas, meanwhile, had at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 as of last week. Consolidated Nuclear Security also manages the nuclear-weapon assembly and disassembly facility for the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Both sites have had some workers in quarantine because of possible exposure to individuals with the viral respiratory disease, or symptoms of it.
Transitioning down to safe and stable condition takes about two weeks, plus another two weeks to ramp back up, according to CNS.
Normally, about 6,000 people work at Y-12, including the construction workers building the Uranium Processing Facility. Pantex normally has more than 3,500.
The CNS spokesperson would not say how many people will leave the sites following the transition to minimum operations.
“Reducing staff on site will help reduce the risk of further spread of COVID-19, and we will continue to protect our workforce while securing the site and maintaining mission capabilities,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, CNS President and CEO Morgan Smith appears to have caught a break. The longtime defense-nuclear manager returned to work Tuesday after a symptomatic individual with whom he’d come into contact with tested negative for COVID-19. Smith had been in quarantine at home, as a precaution.
