As the coronavirus spreads in the US and South Carolina – location of the Savannah River Site – what is the US Department of Energy doing concerning the 11,000 employees at SRS? As the State of South Carolina closes schools and ponders closing bars and restaurants, is SRS being directed by DOE to work as normal? If so, what threat does this pose to us in South Carolina?
Will SRS close cafeterias, halt meetings of 10 or more, require non-essential workers to stay away from the site or work from home if possible? How can it possibly be determined in the face of this threat that the work nuclear war planners – working on the proposed Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) at SRS – be determined to be “essential” and they be allowed to stay working at the site? Why is it that DOE continues to plan to throw $1.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2021 to plutonium pit production while the economy is falling apart due to the virus? In the face of economic damage to society, especially to the poorest amongst us, this planned misdirection of resources must stop.
DOE must publicly state which work is essential and non-essential at SRS. As far as we’re concerned nuclear war planning is noe clearly, absolutely non-essential and work at the site must focus on keeping existing nuclear waste and facilities containing nuclear and hazardous materials in safe condition, so called “min-safe.”