Nov. 24--ERWIN, Tenn. -- Nuclear Fuel Services is being ordered to correct operational deficiencies after an investigation found a senior executive with the company had consumed alcohol on duty in violation of federal rules and a physician working for the company provided incomplete information on whether the executive was fit for duty.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued orders requiring Nuclear Fuel Services and a physician its contracts with to correct deficiencies in its Unicoi County plant related to the former executive the NRC says violated its fitness for duty requirements. The plant also was cited for a failure to administer hearing tests to security officers.

According to the NRC, Nuclear Fuel Services is ordered to modify its fitness-for-duty procedures and training and establish policies for the reporting of substance abuse concerns, including creating a corporate ethics hotline and procedures to allow anonymous reporting.

The action follows an NRC investigation that found the Nuclear Fuel Services executive consumed alcohol before a scheduled working tour of the facility in 2006 in violation of federal regulations.

"The NRC determined that the company failed to immediately relieve the executive of his duties and also failed to administer testing to determine his fitness for duty. Additional apparent violations were identified related to the company's review of the matter and the executive's return to work. That executive is no longer employed by NFS and the company was acquired by Babcock & Wilcox in early 2009," the federal agency said in a statement.

The NRC said Nuclear Fuel Services' contract physician provided incomplete information to an individual hired by the company to determine whether the executive was fit for duty.

"The NRC found that this lack of information caused the NFS to make a less than fully-informed decision about the executive's status before he was returned to duty," the NRC further stated. "The contract physician also provided inaccurate information to NFS about the executive having entered a substance abuse rehabilitation program when he had not done so."

The NRC, which regulates U.S. operations that handle nuclear material, including energy, fuel and waste processing facilities, noted that Nuclear Fuel Services completed "disciplinary action and organizational change with respect to the senior executive."

Nuclear Fuel Services reprocesses radioactive material into nuclear fuel used in nuclear plants and nuclear-powered vessels in the U.S. Navy.

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