Four people employed by Nuclear Waste Partnership, the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend.
The Amentum-BWX Technologies venture said in a Tuesday press release that three of the people showed no symptoms when tested and were already in quarantine due to a possible COVID-19 exposure and have not been at the transuranic waste disposal site near Carlsbad since July 30. The fourth who was also quarantined did become ill, but has not been on site since Aug. 6.
So far, Nuclear Waste Partnership has experienced 10 cases, and two of the employees have since recovered, according to the press release.
In addition, four subcontractors for the underground transuranic waste site have each recorded a confirmed case of COVID-19, bringing the total at WIPP to 14.
None of the DOE sites in the state – WIPP, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories facilities – are covered by a New Mexico emergency order announced Aug. 5 that requires employers to report COVID-19 cases be reported to the New Mexico Environment Department within four hours of discovery. Those facilities “are under other jurisdictions,” an NMED spokeswoman said by email Tuesday.
A DOE website for the Hanford Site in Washington state disclosed Monday that four more workers at the former plutonium production site have tested positive for the virus. At least 71 Hanford Site employees have contracted COVID-19 during 2020, based on anecdotal accounts. No new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the past week at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina during the past week. Savannah River has confirmed a total of 302 cases among its workforce, 185 of those people have recovered and been cleared to return to the job, according to the SRS web site.
