The US nuclear energy industry has called for federal support to address challenges posed by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, urging Washington to ensure that nuclear workers are designated as “essential” and travel to plants is allowed for activities like refuelling outages.

In a letter to energy secretary Dan Brouillette the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute also called on Washington to maintain hotel and food services to support these essential activities and to prioritise personal protective equipment and Covid-19 testing kits for nuclear workers.

The NEI said international workers who perform highly specialised functions should be allowed to travel into the US.