Another worker at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has tested positive for infection by novel coronavirus 2019, contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership said Tuesday.
The site management prime confirmed the new case in a social media post on both Facebook and Twitter. The individual became ill July 11 and was subsequently tested for COVID-19, with results submitted Tuesday.
No other WIPP employees were exposed to the individual, according to the announcement.
This brings the number of confirmed cases of infection at the transuranic waste site near Carlsbad, N.M., to at least five.
Earlier this month, WIPP announced an employee of contractor CAST Specialty Transportation, who works at a trucking terminal in Carlsbad, tested positive for the coronavirus. Three prior cases of COVID-19 infections have also been reported by WIPP. The cases involved employees of various contractors.
Many DOE nuclear sites do little public reporting of infections.
The Hanford Site in Washington state and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina have been leaders in transparency, posting regular COVID-19 case updates to their public websites. The last news of a confirmed COVID-19 case at Hanford was posted Tuesday, bringing the total there to 32, based on anecdotal information.
The Savannah River Site has not reported any new COVID-19 cases since Friday. It lists a total of 131 cases of COVID-19 among its workforce, with 66 having recovered and been cleared to return to work. The South Carolina site hosts significant operations for both the DOE Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
