A second person has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge Tenn. The individual shared a work area with the first infected worker, the site said Monday.
The second confirmed case at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense-uranium hub underscores how rapidly the disease can spread, and how long facilities must wait before they are able to assess the depth of an outbreak.
Without widespread testing among the defense-nuclear workforce, it also highlights the nuclear security enterprise’s reliance on quarantine to curb the spread of the virus.
The first Y-12 employee to catch COVID-19 left the site March 19 after falling ill and tested positive for the viral disease on March 23, according to site management contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS).
Consolidated Nuclear Security attempted some contact tracing in response, requesting 14 days of self-quarantining by anyone known to have come into direct contact with the sick employee in the two days prior to the onset of symptoms. It wasn’t clear whether all those workers did indeed self-quarantine as asked, or even how many workers were asked to self-quarantine.
A CNS spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday afternoon. The local Oak Ridge Today first reported the second confirmed case of COVID-19 at Y-12.
Like other NNSA contractors, CNS has called for more telecommuting at Y-12, attempting to thin out the number of people on-site while mission-essential nuclear-security operations such as construction of the Uranium Processing Facility continues.
Buses that transport UPF construction workers to the site are facing rider limits “to allow social distancing,” Y-12 has said, and the project is staggering construction shifts.
Meanwhile, the other two big shops in the NNSA weapons production complex, the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Kansas City National Security Complex in Kansas City, Mo., were also operating on essentially normal schedules as of Monday afternoon.
Like Y-12, both Kansas City and Pantex are now trying to maximize employee telework to thin crowds at their sites.
There are now at least 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the NNSA nuclear complex. The agency reported nine as of Friday, though the number could rise if people in quarantine develop symptoms and subsequently test positive.
Some defense-nuclear sites last week reported that hundreds of people were absent from work due to COVID-19, either because of illness or inability to telework.
