Supervisors at the Surry nuclear plant turned away a reactor operator before his shift after suspecting that he had been drinking.
According to a notice filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the licensed operator tested positive for alcohol during a for-cause fitness for duty test. His access to the plant has been restricted. The NRC report did not indicate his blood-alcohol level. NRC rules set a BAC threshold of 0.04 percent in fitness-for-duty tests of employees who have just arrived for work.
A spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power told the Associated Press that the operator had skipped a scheduled shift and had previous issues with alcohol. His status at the plant is under review.
Surry is a two-unit plant located near Newport News, Va. Unit 1 began powering down for a refueling outage over the weekend.