Nuclear watchdog switches sides

- Canada's former top nuclear safety regulator for electricity generating stations has been hired by the country's biggest nuclear generating company.

Jim Blyth, formerly of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, started work last week at Ontario Power Generation Inc.

His job is to breathe new life into OPG's aging nuclear plants, which will all reach the end of their normal operating lives by 2019.

At the nuclear safety commission, Blyth had been director-general of power reactor regulation. That meant he was in charge of assessing safety conditions at nuclear plants and making recommendations to the commission about licensing the plants.

At OPG, his title will be director of engineering for life extension and aging management. He will be based at Pickering.

OPG, owned by the Ontario government, operates the Darlington and Pickering nuclear stations. It also owns the Bruce nuclear station, which is operated by privately owned Bruce Power. Blyth will not be responsible for the Bruce reactors.

Chuck Pautler, vice-president of OPG, said the company is delighted to have Blyth, 54, on board.

"He is a renowned expert, he is a superb individual and he was a bureaucratic star," Pautler said.

In his new job, Blyth will not be in direct contact with his former colleagues at the nuclear safety commission, Pautler said.

Extending the lives of the province's nuclear reactors, which supply more than 40 per cent of Ontario's power, is a key project as demand for power continues to grow. OPG's reactors start to reach the end of their normal operating lives as early as 2009.

After that, they need extensive overhauls to prolong their lives. That can prove tricky, as the refurbishment of the Pickering A nuclear station has shown. It is years behind schedule and $2 billion to $3 billion over budget.

Expensive surprises can also crop up at the older plants. OPG said this year it must spend $100 million on the Pickering B station to install new backup generators. The need came to light in the wake of last summer's blackout, which left Pickering B without adequate power to run internal communication and control systems.

Some federal departments have rules preventing employees from moving directly to companies with whom they had dealings as public servants.

Treasury Board rules prohibit employees of some departments and agencies from working for organizations with whom they had "significant official dealings" for a period of one year.

The nuclear safety commission is not one of the agencies covered by the rule.

Pautler and Jim Leveque, a spokesperson for the nuclear safety commission, offered slightly different versions of Blyth's move.

Leveque said OPG approached Blyth last December about taking a job with the company. Pautler insisted that Blyth approached OPG.

In any case, after the initial contact Blyth informed commission president Linda Keen, Leveque said. She re-assigned Blyth to a section of the commission that doesn't deal with power reactors or generating companies.

He remained there until he left the commission late last month, Leveque said. There was no need for the commission to pressure Blyth into making a quick departure once he was no longer dealing with OPG reactors, Leveque said.