Many Brits are understandably in a tizzy over new reports of on-the-job booze and drug use by the “elite” police force responsible for safeguarding the country’s nuclear power plants. Various members of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) have been caught drunk and tested positive for drugs on the job, according to papers released via the Freedom of Information Act. The records also show incidents of officers accidentally shooting off guns and lying about it, as well as making “unwanted and inappropriate advances towards an officer of the opposite sex.” One officer tested positive for marijuana at work, while another “attended a training course smelling of alcohol.” The CNC, which stands 1,000 strong, is responsible not only for safeguarding these nuclear plants but also for overseeing radioactive materials in transit. CNC reportedly dismissed the offending officers or gave them warnings, and also issued warnings to a number of officers who were busted for off-duty offenses, including public intoxication. “This deeply worrying catalogue of misdemeanors is a reminder that nuclear reactors will always be vulnerable to human mistakes and irresponsibility,” says Robin Oakley, Campaigns Director of Greenpeace UK. “If the people supposed to protect us from probably the highest level of nuclear risk don’t take safety seriously, what confidence can we have in the rest of the nuclear industry’s operations?”
