Stan Josey
The Toronto Star
August 24, 1997

 

`In Canada we did not have any nuclear disasters such as Three Mile Island to shake our managers and warn them to be extra-careful with things nuclear’

– Former Ontario Hydro president Allan Kupcis

Former boss blames staff ‘complacency’ for problems

The problems in Ontario Hydro’s nuclear division began when nuclear plant workers started believing they were the best in the world and became complacent, says former Hydro president Allan Kupcis.

“This situation had been building for 15 years and the only way we could get at it was to bring in outsiders to take a look at our nuclear division,” Kupcis told The Star in a frank and wide-ranging interview at his Kawartha Lakes-area cottage yesterday.

In his first public statement since he announced his resignation Aug. 12 from his $500,000-a-year job, Kupcis said there never was a question of his keeping it after outside experts found serious management “culture” problems in Hydro’s nuclear divisions.

The report by a team of American experts found the province’s nuclear plants to be safe, but operating at a “minimally acceptable level.”

Kupcis provided the first public glimpse of the “culture of complacency” that allowed nuclear division workers and managers to convince themselves they were the best in the world and therefore could do no wrong.

“Some of the problem was believing your own headlines,” he said.

“Back in the 1970s and 1980s, our CANDU system was unique in the world and Hydro was continually setting records for nuclear efficiency.

“But when people stop looking outside to see what others are doing in terms of getting better, you tend to forget that the target is raised every time someone sets a record.”

He said nuclear plant workers, basking in their success, had been “allowed to grow complacent in just normal work procedures, and management did not take these issues in hand.”

Despite the management problems in the nuclear division, Kupcis stressed there never was any danger to the safety of people working in the nuclear plants or living around them.

He said there has never been a nuclear-related death in the Ontario program.

“In Canada we did not have any nuclear disasters such as Three Mile Island to shake our managers and warn them to be extra-careful with things nuclear.”

He said a near meltdown of a reactor core at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 was a wake-up call for the U.S. nuclear program.

Six months ago, to identify the problems here, Kupcis called in a group of American nuclear experts led by Carl Andognini.

“Some of the people on that team have been involved in similar rescue programs for nuclear facilities in the U.S.” he said. “I am confident we can do the same thing here and return the nuclear program to its former glory.”

The team headed by Andognini, who also is head of Ontario Hydro’s nuclear division, called for the “laying up or closing” of seven nuclear reactors – four at Pickering and three at the Bruce Nuclear Station in Kincardine – and an $8 billion rescue plan for the 12 remaining operating nuclear reactors.

Kupcis said he is confident the team’s rescue program will be sufficient to return Hydro’s nuclear division to its former status.

“I had been working on this for six months with the nuclear team and I knew that one of the issues was going to be accountability in the end,” said Kupcis, 53, looking tanned and fit in a neat blue jean shirt and pants as he he relaxed at his lakefront property with close family members.

“I don’t like running away from issues but then I also knew that the issue of the culture change in the organization involved accountability among management and that is something I have to demonstrate from the front.”

CONFIDENCE LACKING

But even more important, he said, is the need to restore public confidence in nuclear energy, which has “clearly been shattered” in the past two to three years with repeated reports of nuclear leaks and spills at Pickering, tonnes of heavy-metal pollution being spilled into Lake Ontario and evidence of drug and alcohol use in sensitive nuclear areas.

“You cannot operate a nuclear power program without the support and confidence of the public,” said Kupcis.

He echoed the sentiments of nuclear watchdog groups such as Energy Probe and Durham Nuclear Awareness in wondering whether nuclear power might become too expensive compared with future alternatives.

“It could very well be that natural gas co-generation or other power sources might make it inefficient to run our full nuclear program in the future,” Kupcis said.

He said he strongly endorses opening the hydro generation field up to competition and looks forward to that happening soon.

“All this needs is a go-ahead from (provincial Environment and Energy Minister Norm) Sterling to let it happen,” Kupcis said.

Ontario Hydro’s troubles have also taken a personal toll.

“This is the first real vacation I have had in three years,” since becoming Hydro president, Kupcis said.

Relaxing with him at the cottage are his wife Baika and daughters Laura, 19, and Jennifer, 16. His brother Edgar and his family also are vacationing with him.

Kupcis said he has no job at the moment and no plans for the future.

An engineer with a Ph.D. in material science, Kupcis started working in research at Hydro 24 years ago and worked his way into the top job three years ago.

NO PLANS

He would not discuss any severance pay arrangements in the wake of his resignation, saying he had not even talked to Hydro about this.

It is believed he will receive the equivalent of the salary he would have made for the remainder of his five-year contract period, which has more than a year to run.

The seven generating units to be shut down under Hydro’s Aug. 12 rescue plan account for one-third of Hydro’s nuclear generating capacity. Kupcis said it’s possible some of these units will eventually be restarted. But first the remaining operating units at Bruce, Darlington and Pickering have to be repaired and upgraded.

“Once they are back operating at top efficiency then they can look at restarting the units that were closed.” Kupcis said.

He said it is more likely the Pickering units might be restarted than those at Bruce, because a $1 billion retubing program has been completed at Pickering, while it has not been started at the older Bruce station units.

In fact, he said, there is a tentative timetable to look at restarts of the Pickering units in 1999.

Kupcis, who appeared jovial, said his main priority over the next week is getting his daughter Laura back to Montreal for her second-year studies at Concordia University.

“Those are my plans.”