Vermont Yankee employee fired after drug test detects marijuana

[struggle4progress]

July 21, 2007

By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald

BRATTLEBORO — A licensed control room operator at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant was fired this week after he tested positive for marijuana. ~snip~

Entergy spokesman Larry Smith .. refused to say how long the person was employed at the plant, and exactly where he or she worked. ~snip~

He said that licensed control room operators work in both the reactor in Vernon, and also the plant's training facility in Brattleboro, located at Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee's corporate headquarters. ~snip~

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070721/NEWS02/707210334/1003/NEWS02

Whoa, dude! Look at all these dials and stuff! Far out ...

[eShirl]

1. There is no drug test for the presence of marijuana.

Only a test for the metabolites that remain in the body for up to a month after someone has had marijuana.

[struggle4progress]

3. Marijuana Detection Time Shorter Than Previously Assumed

February 23, 2006 - Columbia, MO, USA

Columbia, MO: The length of time cannabis metabolites may be detected, on average, on a standard urine screen is typically no longer than ten days for chronic users and between 3-4 days for infrequent users, according to a literature review published in the current issue of the journal Drug Court Review. ~snip~

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6821


I assume your point is that the individual in question may not have been intoxicated at the time of the test. But if testing is available only for metabolites, and not for current intoxication, as you claim, perhaps the only reasonable "fitness-for-duty" assumption is that the person is intoxicated when the test is positive. A reason for concern is that such intoxication has occurred worldwide in the past


13 at Nuclear Plant Lose Jobs Over Drug Use
AP Published: December 10, 1981

Thirteen security officers at the Surry nuclear power station were dismissed or resigned today for violating company rules on the use of illegal drugs, the Virginia Electric and Power Company said. Three were dismissed or resigned for smoking marijuana on their way to work, and 10 were dismissed or resigned for refusing to cooperate or for lying to company officials, the utility said. ~snip~ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07EFDA1438F933A25751C1A967948260


Some selected 'Significant Events' at Ontario Hydro's Pickering Nuclear Generating Stations

~snip~ October 11, 1996 "Drug paraphernalia" were found in the 'Operating Island' at the Pickering nuclear stations. A station manager commented: "The continuing discovery of such items in the plant is both embarrassing and a threat to our recovery and survival as a business." This was one of five significant event reports relating to illicit alcohol and/or drug use in the Pickering nuclear stations in 1996. ~snip~

http://www.ccnr.org/nucaware_hydroletter.html


Russia accused of staffing nuclear facilities with drunks and drug addicts
Last Updated: Monday, March 17, 2003 | 6:22 PM ET
CBC News

Activists and sociologists are warning that drinking and drug abuse make the danger of accidents and theft at Russia's nuclear facilities a severe problem. ~snip~ At a news conference on Monday, experts described the Russian nuclear industry as beset by alcoholism and drug addiction ~snip~

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2003/03/17/russiannuclear030317.html

[MrPrax]

2. We're saved!!!

People like this are a security risk -- AQ operatives could use his addiction as blackmail and gain access.

All Hail The New Order!!

:sarcasm:

[struggle4progress]

4. Considering the poor judgment sometimes exhibited even by supposedly sober operators

-- I mean, for example, leaving the controls completely unattended at lunchtime, or conducting unvetted experiments to see how the reactor responds to various power surges and such -- one might reasonably want operators at their best, unimpaired by lack of sleep or recreational chemicals

[MrPrax]

5. Or dropping candy bar wrappers in containment pool n/t

[Trillo]

6. Nothing is in the article about whether there was evidence of impairment.

I've read that the half-life of marijuana is around 20 hours. He may or may not have been impaired, the article doesn't say, but he's certainly fired.

Some cold or flu viruses have been reported in past years by newspapers to cause driving behavior that mimics drunkenness at times, so I wonder about the nuclear plant's virus infection testing procedures and health safeguards. The article says that they'll test for drugs if impairment is noted, but it doesn't say what action is taken when there's noted impairment and drug tests are negative. So, poor reporting IMO.