"STP to bring employees back to site" by: Jessica Shepard

   South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company officials are looking at bringing all employees back to the site for work by Monday, Jan. 3.
   “We’re working on transitioning towards having all of our personnel returning to the plant,” said STP Covid Response Director Waco Blankston.
   “Barring another quarantine and so forth. We’re keeping our eyes on the numbers and variants and will evaluate our plans as necessary.”
   Blankston added that the employee return would happen in phases.
   “We want to return to normal just as soon as they do,” he said.
   STP officials said they were aiming to decommission old sirens and implement the new Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) by April 2022.
   “The goal is a steady rollout in the spring next year and hinges on a handful of factors,” said STP Emergency Response manager Jay Bodnar.
   “We also wanted to make sure we had a clear and efficient emergency response plan approved by Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) before going live with this system.”
   Bodnar added that training was underway with the IPAWS software and county agencies.
   “We’ve also got 32 sirens to decommission in the spring,” he said.
   “Those sirens cover a 10-mile Emergency Response plan zone. IPAWS will be like a siren in every pocket and more efficient.”
   Bodnar explained that STP was working with the county and landowners in the area to schedule siren decommissions as needed.
   “While we want the sirens to come down in the spring, realistically we’re looking at the middle of May or June,” added Bodnar.
   “It also depends on the bids for removal.”
   “It all boils down to using our cellphones for communication and moving forward into the future with technology,” said Matagorda County Public Information Officer Mitch Thames.
   “The number one goal for Matagorda County Emergency Operations Center is the health and safety of every citizen and visitor. For that to happen, we need to utilize IPAWS to broadcast messages like weather alerts.”
   Thames added that the IPAWS software allowed for customizing messages as well as locations to target in the county.
   “Alerts can also be broadcasted throughout our area en masse,” he said.
   One of the primary benefits of the IPAWS system is the use of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) like Amber, Silver, or weather alerts.
   The downside is that residents need to opt-in to receive the notifications once the IPAWS system goes live.
   “Right now it will be ‘all or nothing’ to opt-in to the alerts,” said Thames.
   “We just have to impress upon our citizens the importance of these notifications and how it benefits their safety so that they opt-in.”
   Thames explained that the IPAWS messages will be controlled by Matagorda County Emergency Operations Center Coordinator Amanda Campos.
   “We’re working on a communication plan coming out over time with the cities and county,” said STP Communications Manager Amanda Sitka.
   “We’ll have more on that as we get into spring 2022.”