The Nation - News from July 13, 1987

The House Interior and Insular Affairs subcommittee on general oversight and investigations said in a letter to be sent today to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Lando W. Zech Jr. that the commission’s policy of having utilities police their own employees for alcohol and drug abuse without NRC intervention is not working. “The NRC simply cannot afford to leave it to the industry or anyone else to make sure that those in control of nuclear power plants are also in control of themselves,” wrote Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.), chairman of the panel. The subcommittee urged the NRC to issue rules requiring utilities to block on-site drug and alcohol use, stop workers from entering plants under the influence and institute a “fitness-for-duty” program.