Vogtle construction halted for workforce issues

Construction was halted for eight hours at Georgia Power’s Vogtle nuclear project in Burke county last month as management addressed what the company said were safety and productivity issues at the plant.

Georgia Power said the July 25 stand-down was essential to regroup and refocus construction efforts at the site, a workplace for 7,000 employees.

“We took time last week to refocus the entire site on the importance of safe and quality construction and meeting milestones after isolated performance issues (including fitness for duty testing and attendance), by a very small number of workers,” company spokesman John Kraft wrote in an email.

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 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.

“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,” Salters said.

Designs delays and idle time at the site have previously been cited by Public Service Commission staffers as reasons the project has gone 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 drugand alcohol-related incidents at the plant.

Event notifications on the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s website pointed to a slight increase in the number of workers, mostly supervisors, failing random drug and alcohol tests in July.

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 at the 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 two resident inspectors at the site, did not report any safety concerns as a result of the stand -down.

Barczak said the daylong closure should concern rate- payers 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 brief- ing and ask questions,” she added.

PSC Chairman Lauren McDonald said the commis- sion was notified before the stand-down.

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

According to Georgia Power, the project is still on track for completion in 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,” Kraft said.

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