With restructuring, the reliability of the AC electricity production and distribution systems will continue to decline. The industry is moving very rapidly from preventive maintenance (PM) to reliability maintenance (RM) to breakdown maintenance (BM). With the decline in maintenance, plant operators will be under greater duress to know and understand all of the systems and components in the facilities that they operate. Restructuring will bring on-site generation (DC and AC), more contract operating personnel and new types of energy systems. Plant operating and maintenance personnel need a benchmark certification that will meet and exceed the present skill, knowledge and safety levels.
The DCEA recommends that Virginia implement a safety program to certify plant operators under the National Institute for the Uniform Licensing of Power Engineers (NIULPE) certificate. The NIULPE certificate meets or exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Fossil Fuel Operators certificate program and could be implemented under the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board Standard VR 425-01-64 of January 17, 1990. The Army bases in Virginia presently require the NIULPE certificate for all of the base operators and maintenance personnel under AR42049. There are presently 1,300 NIULPE certified operators in Virginia. They are working at facilities such as the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Radford University, Longview University, Virginia Power, LG&E Cogen, Southern Power, Navy-Norfolk and all of the Army facilities.
The power generating companies in Virginia presently rely on Navy-trained personnel or Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) programs as benchmarks. However, neither program has national certification, and as a result, it is difficult to transfer operators to new locations. There are training groups and companies in the state that provide the NIULPE training and exam. The unions (IBEW, IUOE, AFGSME, etc.) do not presently certify their members but are working with NIULPE to use their certification.
The NIULPE program would provide plants with safe, efficient operators. The certification is achieved by the employee and is not a cost to the company. The companies may get reductions on their insurance by having certified employees. Military personnel discharged in Virginia could be pre-certified in order to keep them in the state and add to the high-tech employment of Virginia. We hope you will consider the safety of all Virginia plant operators by benchmarking the plant operators in the new, restructured industry with the NIULPE certification.