Nuclear cleanup contractors, including those planning to participate in a major waste conference next week, are trying to conduct business as usual while simultaneously grappling with the risk posed by the global coronavirus outbreak.
On Thursday afternoon, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it would cancel its annual Regulatory Information Conference, scheduled for March 10-12 just outside of Washington, D.C. “In recent days, a number of organizations and presenters have changed their attendance plans, with indications that others would reach similar decisions in coming days,” the agency said in a brief press release.
However, the Waste Management Symposia was set as of Friday to go forward in Phoenix.
In an update Wednesday, the conference organizer said “The safety of our attendees, presenters, exhibitors, sponsors, vendors, and staff, continues to be the upmost importance to the WM Symposia organization. We are monitoring the latest developments related to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). We will be following all recommended guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as it relates to COVID-19 prevention and implementing precautionary measures for WM2020.”
The event is taking a number of precautions, including having a medic on-site, and giving attendees hand sanitizer as well as face masks upon request, according to a letter from an organizer. Participants are also encouraged to “practice social distancing” – in other words don’t stand too close to one another.
“At this time there is no decree from the federal government on restrictions for conferences,” Symposia Chairman James Gallagher said in a Monday letter to sponsors and exhibitors for the international conference for the management of radioactive material.
The symposia’s technical sessions will start Monday if no additional government travel restrictions are established by the CDC and the World Health Organization, Gallagher wrote.
“We understand that there is a lot of fear and uncertainty right now as we are in the early stages of the outbreak and a lot is still unknown, however, we want to ensure we’ve making decision based on factual recommendations rather than rumor or fear,” he stated.
The outbreak has led to cancellation of a growing number of conferences, including IHS Markit’s CERAWeek 2020 energy conference scheduled for next week in Houston and a Google developer conference planned for May in Mountain View, Calif.
One contractor who intends to be in Phoenix said attendance – which can reach upward of 2,400 people — will be a bit depressed, with delegations from Asia, and to a lesser degree Europe, staying home. For example, the formal agenda includes presentations on cleanup efforts following the Fukushima meltdown accident in Japan.
“Some people are freaking out,” the source said. The contractor added, though, that risk remains low in the United States, particularly if basic precautions are taken.
Likewise, a second participating contractor said he does not think vendor attendance will drop dramatically. “We all have to make a living,” he said. Gatherings such as the Waste Management Symposia are a popular venue for meetings on nuclear business, he added.
Some international, and smaller U.S., companies are cutting back business travel until more information is available, the two sources said.
Environmental Management Vendors Cope with Nonradioactive Risk
Energy Department vendors, which in the normal course of business are assigned to manage radioactive and chemical hazards, are now advising staff on minimizing the risk of contracting a virus.
For now, at least, concerns over novel coronavirus are not dramatically altering operations at the 16 nuclear cleanup sites overseen by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses including the common cold, according to the World Health Organization. The novel coronavirus is a new strain not identified in humans before December 2019 in China.
As of noon Friday, a database run through Johns Hopkins University placed the current United States caseload at 240. NBC News puts the number of domestic deaths at 14 at press time.
The occupational health vendor for the Hanford Site in Washington state issued a memo encouraging workers to stay home if they experience flu-like symptoms such as a fever. “Be mindful that according to the CDC, individuals could be at risk if they have been within 6 feet of others” with a confirmed coronavirus infection, the memo says.
Gov. Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency in Washington state, where 70 cases and 11 deaths had been confirmed as of Thursday, according to the Seattle Times. But those have been focused in the Seattle area, across the state from the Hanford Site.
Companies such as Amentum, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, Fluor, and Huntington Ingalls, said they are monitoring the situation and urging employees to be vigilant on hygiene issues such as hand washing. The companies also said they are monitoring the CDC, WHO, and the federal government for any travel restrictions or other developments. For the most part, however, the companies deferred comment on what’s going on in the weapons complex to the Energy Department headquarters, which did not respond to requests to comment as of Thursday afternoon.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a list of disinfectants that might prove effective in limiting the spread of the virus.