The coronavirus pandemic has complicated things for the current refueling outage at Limerick Nuclear Generating Station, writes James Conca for the Forbes.

There have so far been five cases of COVID-19 among the plant’s more than 2,000 employees and contractors. Additionally, four employees or contractors have been quarantined as of April 8.

Workers at nuclear power plants are considered essential by both the U.S. federal government and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

“Just like the first responders, health care workers, and grocery store employees, these specialized workers perform tasks that are vital to the nation’s power grid,” said Dave Marcheskie, communications manager at the Limerick Generating Station.

Nuclear power plants, which run almost all the time, are refueled only once every two years or so. Refueling outages usually take place in the spring or autumn, when electricity demand is lowest.

And while these usually take a month, the one at Limerick is scheduled to last only 18 days. The plant is currently halfway through.

“As the outage winds down, the number of workers onsite will continue to decrease significantly and we will remain overly cautious in our criteria for quarantining,” said Exelon, the plant owner.

Read more about Limerick Nuclear Generating Station at the Forbes by clicking here.