1st coronavirus case reported at Hanford. Thousands of workers to stay home longer

The Department of Energy has been notified of the first known case of COVID-19 at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

An employee, who works for Washington River Protection Solutions at the Hanford tank farms, tested positive for the new coronavirus on Thursday afternoon, after not being on site at Hanford since March 17.

Only work essential to protect the public, workers and the environment has been done on the vast reservation for about four weeks, and Thursday, before the first case was known, the partial closure of the site was extended for another week.

Hanford has about 11,000 workers with just 10 to 15 percent of them now working on site.

About 60 percent of Hanford workers are teleworking to support on-site activities.

The building where the ill worker was based at Hanford was previously cleaned as part of ongoing, enhanced cleaning protocols that meet Centers for Disease Control guidelines related to the new coronavirus, said John Eschenberg, president of the tank farm contractor.

The worker was based in a mobile office in the 200 East Area at the center of the 580-square-mile site.

The Benton Franklin Health District will determine who the worker’s close contacts were during the worker may have been contagious. Close contacts will be notified.

The majority of Hanford employees live in Benton and Franklin counties, where 571 cases of COVID-19 had been reported as of Thursday morning.

Hanford worker pay

Multiple possible cases of COVID-19 have been reported by Hanford workers over the last month, but this is the first positive case to the knowledge of DOE officials.

In most cases, the areas where workers in suspected cases had been recently have been closed for cleaning and sanitizing.

Brian Vance, the DOE Hanford manager, sent a message to employees Thursday morning, saying progress continues to be made toward environmental cleanup at Hanford though remote work.

“Each week we will continue to evaluate the multiple factors under consideration that will lead to a decision to begin a phased, structured and methodical process toward resuming full site operations when conditions support (it),” he told workers.

Thanks to the economic stimulus bill signed by President Trump last month, almost all Hanford workers will be paid for 40 hours a week, even if they cannot telework and are not assigned to the current work considered critical for safety at Hanford.

Provisions that allow Hanford workers to be paid were inserted in the bill due to the efforts of Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.

The Hanford site in Eastern Washington was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program. Radioactive and hazardous chemical contamination left from production is being cleaned up at a cost of about $2.5 billion a year.

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 6:50 PM.