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The Nuclear Industry Pushes Back Against Coronavirus

This article is more than 3 years old.

The Nuclear Industry first developed pandemic response plans in 2006. But they were revised in March by the Nuclear Energy Institute to better align with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended actions for COVID-19 as well as those from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The response plans include actions for the entire course of a pandemic, from monitoring of the global and local situations to internal preparations and communications. All nuclear plant pandemic plans emphasize ensuring the availability of reactor operating crews and include various action levels, from monitoring to possible sequestration of crew staff.

The American Nuclear Society’s Nuclear News listed these actions that are outlined in the industry’s response plan:


  1. Stockpiling masks, hand sanitizer, and gloves and distributing these within a plant to places where they will be needed;

  2. Expecting periodic testing and verifying plans and procedures;
  3. Implementing policies specific to a pandemic response that include restrictions on employee travel, in-person meetings, visitor access, and telecommuting for non-essential personnel;
  4. Implementing screening methods for employees and visitors to critical facilities;
  5. Enforcing workforce deployment policies regarding teams and crew interaction and the potential need for social distancing and sanitization as recommended by the CDC;

  6. Identifying and procuring equipment and facilities necessary for prolonged response;

  7. Increasing sanitization practices and access controls in common areas;

  8. Closing exercise rooms, cafeterias, and visitor centers;

  9. Stockpiling industrial supplies that are necessary for plant operations, like chemicals and lubricants;
  10. Procuring items required should key staff need to be sequestered at the plant, including basic medical supplies, bedding, laundry supplies, and personal care items;
  11. Stockpiling ready-to-eat meals, water, beverages, and
 other food;

  12. Preplanning response actions to be taken by medical staff in the event of discovery of an on-site infection;

  13. Preplanning other response actions should an employee be- come exposed or affected, and

  14. Maintaining awareness and communicating with staff.

NEI has organized mechanisms to support dissemination of industry status information, coordinate the industry response, and share best practices and lessons learned. These include weekly calls on:

  • Operational status of utilities and key suppliers;

  • Nuclear facility status;
  • Regulatory issues with Nuclear Regulatory Commission senior management, and
  • Industry executive issues with utility chief nuclear officers.

As the response to COVID-19 continues to evolve rapidly, the nuclear industry receives updates and lessons learned from operating plants around the world. The information is shared on a routine basis. In addition to normal monitoring of their workforce and activities, utilities are taking steps to limit the risk to their staffs.

For example, directing employees who don’t feel well to stay home, encouraging them to seek medical attention, and asking for a report on their condition. Seems obvious, but it’s amazing how infrequently it’s done in general. Some plants are also implementing steps to take the temperature of incoming workers as a screening precaution, to limit site access for personnel recently in countries impacted by the virus, and to screen employees, contractors, and any necessary visitors as part of site entry.

The safety of plants and workers remains the top priority for the industry - it’s why nuclear has the safest jobs of all industries in the world.

The actions taken by each plant will vary based on local conditions and plant status. Each plant will maintain a core of reactor operators that can be relied on for continued safe operations. However, in the event a plant no longer has an adequate number of healthy operators, the reactor would be shut down until such time as it could be safely operated.

In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently monitoring the industry response and is considering, or in some cases has already made, adjustments to its oversight and inspection activities. This may include using remote inspections, when possible, as well as modifying inspection schedules.

This pandemic is going to change how everyone lives and works in every job and in every industry. Now is the time to work these changes out for every industry. Nuclear is just ahead of the curve.

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