BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

A weekly report by Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board inspectors at Los Alamos National Laboratory for the week of Oct. 23 published Friday states M&O contractor Triad National Security, LLC, has experienced instances of workers arriving on-site with COVID-19 symptoms.

“They have also experienced several instances where workers in break rooms resulted in close contacts necessitating the percautionary isolation of many workers,” the report states. “In one example, a large number of radiation protection staff members in the Plutonium Facility were isolated. Fortunately, Triad’s onsite testing resulted in a same day negative test result allowing all workers to return the next day. Triad management is reassessing break room configurations.”

The Lab confirmed 165 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday with 8,616 on-site tests administered. Sources have told the Los Alamos Reporter that approximately 870 LANL employees are self-isolating at home and that operations are beginning to be affected, however, LANL officials did not comment Friday on these allegations.