Plant Vogtle work halted briefly amid safety, productivity concerns

A business manager with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), however, said the stand down was called by Southern Company, the parent company of Georgia Power, following “concerns that the job was not productive enough.”

Will Salters, with IBEW, said engineering problems resulting from delays in providing work packages and materials to craftsmen at the site were affecting productivity at the plant, resulting in idle time among workers.

“A lot of the time the workers did not have the information they needed to do the jobs and they did not have anything to do,” said Salters.

Designs delays and idle time among workers at the site have previously been cited by Public Service Commission staffers for keeping the project off-track.

Kraft said productivity has improved since a management change last year.

Besides engineering issues, management at the plant also had to deal with a rise in drug and alcohol related incidences at the plant.

Event notifications on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) website pointed to a slight increase in the number of workers, mostly supervisors, failing random drug and alcohol tests in July.

Six workers failed drug and alcohol tests in July, according to the reports, with one reported incident two days after the stand down .

“This is a costly concern and also a safety concern because you don’t want people testing positive for drugs and alcohol building a nuclear plant,” said Sarah Barczak, Regional Advocacy Director Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Georgia Power said swift action is taken when such violations are discovered.

“Safety is our top priority - we have a very strict policy against the use of alcohol and illegal drugs by employees or contractors at the Vogtle site…,” Kraft said.

The NRC, which has five resident inspectors at the site, did not report any safety concerns as a result of the stand down.

Barczak said the day-long closure should concern ratepayers who are financing the construction of the two units.

“This to me sounds very serious, I hope the Georgia PSC would ask the company to come in, provide a briefing and ask questions,” added Barczak.

PSC Chairman Lauren McDonald said the commission was notificed prior to the stand down.

“It wasn’t time wasted,” he said adding that the day had turned out productive.

According to Georgia Power, the project is still on track for completion for 2021 and 2022.

"We are proud of our accomplishments since the transition of the site from Westinghouse and we will continue to focus on improving performance," added Kraft

Construction of the two units in Waynesboro has been an object of great debate among different interest groups in the state following delays and cost overruns which have dogged the project since it was commissioned in 2009. Total project cost is estimated to double to $25 billion.

Worker problems at Vogtle in 2018

SOURCE: NRC