News

December 4, 2009

Nuke plant maintenance to open temporary jobs

One subcontractor is seeking 200 temps who must undergo screening.

The nuclear power plant in Salem Township is gearing up for a scheduled outage next year for maintenance, refueling and upgrade of its Unit 1 reactor, a process that will create hundreds of skilled and unskilled jobs – albeit temporary – for locals.

Workforce Resources in West Hazleton is advertising for 200 openings for a subcontractor it declines to name, but says the work is for people “who can handle general labor duties.”

The jobs’ lengths are predicated on the outage, which is expected to begin in March but will likely include orientation and other preparatory work.

The Unit 2 outage this year lasted 42 days.

Joe Scopelliti, PPL spokesman for the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, said 1,475 temporary workers were hired during that outage.

He noted that workers often put in more than a regular 40-hour week. But they’re compensated well; the Workforce Resources ad notes that workers can make up to $1,000 per week.

Because of the security threats and health hazards at a nuclear plant, potential workers also will need to pass a psychological evaluation and FBI fingerprinting, Scopelliti said.

“They can’t go on site unescorted until they get those,” he said. “Anyone could be able to apply for it, but that doesn’t mean that everybody would get through the screening.”

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