The Waste Control Specialists office staff in Andrews County, Texas, is working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company’s waste disposal operations continue unabated, President and Chief Operating Officer David Carlson said Thursday.
“The WCS site continues in full operation,” he said during a web-only remote meeting of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission. “We have had no coronavirus disruption and so we are operating on a normal basis. Based on Homeland Security guidance we’re considered essential and we’ll continue to operate during the current health situation.”
The remote-working directive covers all corporate, sales, and administrative employees. Management will determine when to bring staff back based on the status of the disease in the state.
Operations personnel remain on-site to handle waste emplacement and other work, Carlson said. They are, though, taking measures to prevent any potential spread of the novel coronavirus 2019. That includes staying at least 6 feet away from one another, or wearing HEPA-filtered respirators when that is not possible.
The Dallas-based company operates four separate waste disposal facilities on its property along the Texas-New Mexico border. That includes one of four licensed commercial sites for disposal of low-level radioactive waste. It employs over 160 people.
No COVID-19 cases have been confirmed within the WCS workforce, Carlson said by email Thursday.
As of Friday afternoon, 21 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in Andrews County, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. There have been no deaths. The county is estimated to have just over 18,700 residents.
The statewide COVID-19 count on Friday stood at 35,390 cases, 973 deaths, and 18,440 patients who had recovered.
In the event of a significant outbreak in Andrews County, Waste Control Specialists would focus on maintaining security of its site and environmental monitoring, according to Carlson. Plans have been established for both, he added, without discussing details.
In April, Carlson told RadWaste Monitor that reduced operations at certain client federal facilities had delayed some waste shipments to West Texas. He did not discuss specifics.
Waste Control Specialists’ peers in low-level radioactive waste disposal have also sustained operations through the health crisis.
EnergySolutions, headquartered in Salt Lake City, operates two disposal facilities in Clive, Utah, and Barnwell, S.C. Its offices and sites remain open, but employees who can telework are doing so and other social distancing measures are in place, the nuclear services firm said in April.
US Ecology owns the last of the four low-level waste sites, on the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. The company has marketed COVID-19 decontamination services but has also announced plans to cut tens of millions of dollars in costs due to the economic headwinds caused by the pandemic.
EnergySolutions did not respond by deadline Friday to questions regarding the status of on-site COVID-19 management efforts. US Ecology directed a query toward written material addressing its continuity of operations approach.
