August 16, 2009 in Business

Company’s background checks at forefront of nuclear security

Spokane Valley’s Pinnacle verifies credentials of workers at reactors

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Ryan Brewer stands outside “the Vault,” a secure records file room with limited access at Pinnacle Investigations. The room stores “personal information on subjects that we’ve done background information on for nuclear plant workers,” he said.
(Full-size photo)

Nuclear reactors are anything but radioactive for Pinnacle Investigations.

Each time one shuts down for maintenance, as they must every 18 months, the Spokane Valley company conducts background checks on every worker – carpenter, boilermaker, electrician – who will enter the plant, said Ryan Brewer, who is responsible for business development.

If an employment form claims a stint in the military, he said, Pinnacle verifies. Credit history, education and references? All checked.

“They need to know where you’ve been every day,” Brewer said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sets some criteria, he said, and individual companies may add their own …

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