DOE calls more Hanford workers back to nuclear reservation. COVID safeguards working, they say

More Hanford employees will be returning to onsite work Monday.

The nuclear reservation will be transitioning to Phase 2 of its ramp up of operations, after most workers were sent home in March to telework if possible to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

About 10% of workers continued to report to work to perform tasks essential to protect the environment, workers and the public.

A phased return to work began at the end of May, with 50% of the site’s approximately 11,000 workers on site this week, 45% teleworking and about 5% not working but being paid under the stimulus program passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in March.

Phase 1 operations continued far longer than originally envisioned, Hanford Department of Energy manager Brian Vance told workers last week.

But on Thursday he said community conditions — such as COVID testing capability and hospital capacity — and protective measures being taken on the site allow more workers to return to onsite work.

The number of new cases reported daily in the Tri-Cities area remains at a level that the Washington state Department of Health considers high, but they have dropped by more than 50% since the start of July.

Workers test positive

About 135 of Hanford’s employees, or just over 1%, have reported testing positive for COVID-19, according to cumulative information posted on the Hanford app.

Earlier this month, when the number of cases topped 100, none of the workers were believed to have been infected at work. Updated information was not immediately available late Thursday afternoon.

“We have worked hard to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through our established COVID-19 protocols and practices, which continue to be key factors in prevention,” Vance said in a memo to employees Thursday. “These measure are working here and around the country.”

They include requiring face coverings, frequent hand washing and social distancing.

The increased availability of personal protective equipment also was a factor in the decision to move to Phase 2. In the spring, there was concern that Hanford work could take some of the nation’s limited supply of protective equipment that could be better used by health care workers and first responders put at risk by infected patients.

Work in Phase 2 will include tasks that require larger work teams and more extensive personal protective equipment than tasks now being done.

Limited nonessential travel may resume but meetings with nonHanford employees will continue to be held via the internet, if possible, under the Phase 2 plan.

Lunchrooms and conference rooms will reopen, but social distancing will be required.

Employees have been told to avoid shaking hands and to stay home if ill.

The Hanford nuclear reservation was used to produce plutonium during World War II and the Cold War. Now about $2.5 billion is being spent annually on environmental cleanup of radioactive and other hazardous chemical waste and contamination left from production.

Contract extended

In other Hanford news, DOE extended the contract for CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. for up to six months.

Its current contract is set to expire on Sept. 30, and DOE has awarded Central Plateau Cleanup Co. a new $10 billion, 10-year contract to continue much of the work being done under the expiring contract.

Central Plateau Cleanup is owned by a team lead by Amentum, formerly Aecom, and including Fluor Federal Services and Atkins Nuclear Secured.

The planned 60-day transition to the new contract was delayed both by an appeal of the contract award that was settled in DOE’s favor and also the reduction of work being done on site during the pandemic.

The transition is expected to begin during the remobilization of the work force, which is expected to last through 2020.

CH2M employs about 1,700 workers at Hanford and is in its 12th year of work at the nuclear reservation after earlier extensions to its original 10-year contract.

The new contract covers much of the environmental cleanup work of the site, with the exception of Hanford’s 56 million gallons of radioactive waste held in underground tanks and the plant being built to glassify the tank waste for disposal.

This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 6:15 PM.