SHIPPINGPORT — A licensed operator at a nuclear power plant has been off the job since testing positive for low-levels of alcohol at work.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating and in an Oct. 5 letter, gave Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station officials 30 days to detail the worker’s status. The plant is owned by Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp.

FirstEnergy spokesman Jennifer Young said the plant’s testing equipment can detect alcohol at “very low levels” and said the employee barely hit those levels. She said the amount of alcohol in his system was “well below legal levels for driving” which, in Pennsylvania, is 0.08 percent.