The organizer of a major nuclear cleanup and waste industry conference held earlier this month said Monday one participant has tested negative for COVID-19 after a potential exposure.
Results from testing of one other participant are pending, possibly by today, according to Waste Management Symposia. “We hope to receive the results of the first attendee shortly,” the organization said in its COVID-19 update.
Both participants are believed to be employees of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, which manages cleanup of 16 active and former nuclear-weapon sites around the nation. The office referred questions about their status to the DOE web page on COVID-19.
Waste Management Symposia said on March 16 that one attendee was being tested and pother was self-isolating after displaying flu-like symptoms. The annual conference drew about 2,100 people to Phoenix from March 8 to 12. No other possible COVID-19 cases have been identified.
Separately, one Energy Department staffer from headquarters in Washington, D.C., tested positive for novel coronavirus 2019 and has been on leave since March 3, the agency said last week. The employee’s home office has not been identified.
A small number of Nuclear Regulatory Commission personnel also went into self-isolation earlier this month after potential exposures to COVID-19 at an unidentified event. The agency said on March 13 the employees were all asymptomatic but would remain in self-imposed isolation for 14 days. There was no update on their status Monday, an NRC spokesman said.
Nearly all of the federal regulator’s nearly 3,000 full-time equivalent employees are working remotely, which is expected to continue at least through April 3.
Even as certain Energy Department sites restricted access and operations this week, commercial radioactive waste management providers aimed to maintain normal operations.
“Our operations continue with no interruption in service and we will continue to communicate COVID-19 updates as it relates to our facilities,” according to EnergySolutions, the Salt Lake City-based nuclear services firm that operates two of the four licensed sites for commercial disposal of low-level radioactive waste. “Should an outbreak occur at any of our locations/operations, we will notify clients immediately to develop a plan to minimize the impact.”
