Nearly 70 federal employees at the agency tasked with overseeing and modernizing the nuclear stockpile in Nevada were furloughed Monday.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the temporary layoffs in a North Las Vegas press conference as the federal government shutdown entered its third week.

The 68 affected workers represent “virtually all of our federal employees” at the local Nevada National Security Sites office, and a fraction of the roughly 1,400 staffers in the National Nuclear Security Administration who received furlough notices across the U.S., he said.

“Today is the day our ability to deploy funds to pay those workers ended,” Wright said.

Federal officials had expected Monday’s furloughs to also affect some of the roughly 3,000 contractors in Nevada who

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