A blood alcohol test Wednesday morning of a Vermont Yankee engineering supervisor was above the federally mandated alcohol limit; plant authorities subsequently revoked the employee’s access to the plant.
According to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesman Neil Sheehan, the supervisor was tested due to a red flag raised by coworkers, not a random screening.
“It was more of a case of the smell of alcohol being detected on the individual,” he said.
Sheehan said the NRC’s threshold for an alcohol infraction on the job is a blood alcohol content level of .04 percent or higher in the first hour, .03 percent after an hour and .02 percent after two hours. The limit for noncommercial drunk driving in Vermont is .08 percent.
The employee, said Sheehan, was not in the main reactor area, but rather in support buildings, where the supervisor oversaw engineering work on safety systems and plant structures.
“Nevertheless,”said Sheehan, “our regulations are very clear that anyone who works at a nuclear power plant, whether they are in the power block or not, is expected to adhere to high standards of performance. So, if you’re above the established thresholds for alcohol use … then that would not be considered acceptable.”
Sheehan said there was no evidence that the individual was drinking on site, and Vermont Yankee authorities would not comment any further about the employee’s status.
The NRC commended Vermont Yankee for making the observation early and acting quickly to deal with it.
According to NRC data, the number of U.S. nuclear plant employees testing positive for alcohol infractions has dropped since the industry began testing in 1990. At that time, 452 individuals tested positive for alcohol use, compared to the 262 who tested positive in 2011.
The numbers of nuclear plant employees who tested positive for marijuana and cocaine use nationwide have declined by more than 50 percent over the last two decades. In 1990, 1,153 nuclear employees tested positive for marijuana and 706 employees tested positive for cocaine. In 2011, the number of employees found to be using marijuana dropped to 530 and the number using cocaine decreased to 127.
