Y-12: UPF buses now only half-filled at most, cleaned and sanitized

The buses that carry employees to and from the Uranium Processing Facility construction project each day are filled to half of their capacity at most, and the buses are being cleaned and sanitized after each drop-off, a federal contractor said.

Oak Ridge Today asked about the buses after an employee at the Y-12 National Security Complex, where the UPF is being built, tested positive for COVID-19, a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.

UPF rotates multiple buses throughout the day to take workers to and from the construction site, said Consolidated Nuclear Security, the federal contractor that manages and operates Y-12 as well as the Pantex Plant northeast of Amarillo, Texas.

“The buses are only being filled to a maximum of half capacity, allowing passengers to sit one per seat, and are being cleaned and sanitized after each drop-off,” CNS said.

The contractor said UPF has also started staggering shifts in the morning to help with the new precautionary measure and to assist employees with social distancing.

There are about 800 workers at the UPF site, CNS said.

CNS has confirmed several COVID-19 cases among employees of Y-12, an 811-acre plant that manufactures components for nuclear weapons and stores highly enriched uranium, among other activities, but the contractor has declined to provide a specific number of cases and has not reported where the affected employees have worked inside the site.