N.B. Power risked 'fatigue-related errors' at nuclear plant, regulator says

Jacques Poitras · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 09, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Federal regulators accidental N.B. Power violated rules designed to guarantee overnight displacement workers astatine the Point Lepreau atomic powerfulness works get capable slumber to trim the hazard of information mistakes.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said, successful a announcement of violation, that immoderate workers did not get the required 72-hour "recovery period" aft moving 3 consecutive nighttime shifts astatine the atomic plant.

"CNSC unit contend that the N.B. Power unit moving extracurricular the bounds of [the regulations] were not provided a capable accidental for slumber and betterment from slumber debt," said the nine-page announcement issued successful March.

"As such, these workers were astatine an accrued hazard of experiencing precocious levels of fatigue and committing fatigue-related errors."

The committee fined the inferior $24,760.

N.B. Power did not supply a remark connected the announcement to CBC News by deadline.

WATCH | 'Mistakes tin beryllium made.' N.B. Power fined for Lepreau violation:

Green Party Leader David Coon said the revelation was alarming and suggested that the works is short-staffed.

"You're talking astir operators, exigency effect personnel, information radical who've been moving 3 night-shifts consecutive and are past having to travel backmost to enactment without having the accidental to get immoderate rest," helium said.

"This is simply a atomic reactor. You can't person radical who are fatigued, who are tired, doing those jobs due to the fact that arsenic the regulator said … mistakes tin beryllium made and those mistakes could beryllium precise serious." 

According to the March 20 usurpation notice, N.B. Power's operating licence for the atomic works requires it to instrumentality a programme truthful that workers successful "safety-sensitive positions" tin debar fatigue.

That includes limits connected hours of enactment and minimum betterment times.

The committee archetypal noticed during an inspection successful precocious 2022 that N.B. Power's shift-scheduling bundle allowed workers to beryllium scheduled successful usurpation of the regulations and that immoderate workers had exceeded the limits.

N.B. Power told the commission it was adopting "interim corrective actions," including manual reviews of schedules, the announcement said.

Follow-up inspections by the commission, successful 2023 and 2024, "found continued non-compliance" with the regularisation requiring a 72-hour interruption betwixt 3 oregon much nighttime shifts.

There were 104 violations successful 2023 and 150 successful 2024, it says.

The committee wrote to N.B. Power connected Jan. 7 asking it to instrumentality steps to debar much violations. The inferior responded Jan. 22 claiming that it had addressed the issues, including by requiring each unit successful safety-sensitive positions to get grooming connected the rules.

The committee followed up successful February with a verification of N.B. Power unit grooming and recovered astir 30 per cent of affected workers astatine Point Lepreau had not completed the training.

"This contradicted the statements made by N.B. Power successful their effect to the informing letter," the committee said.

The inferior has taken further steps since February, including a bundle update that shows erstwhile the hours-of-work rules are not being followed.

The committee decided to good N.B. Power to "help deter recurrence" of the violations, the announcement said.

Coon said the $24,760 good should beryllium higher but said publicizing the usurpation should besides compel the inferior to beryllium much diligent. 

When the committee archetypal spotted the scheduling problems successful 2022, Point Lepreau was overseen by N.B. Power's vice-president nuclear, Brett Plummer.

CEO Lori Clark revealed successful September 2023 that Plummer was leaving the presumption and that she was taking on the relation herself.

"She said she would play the dual relation of CEO and vice-president nuclear," Coon said Tuesday. "Perhaps that's not appropriate."