News Archive 2002

At the Heart of a Nuclear Power Plant Ticks a Pitchman's Soul
By WINNIE HU
The New York Times
October 14, 2002

BUCHANAN, N.Y., Oct. 11 - Give him a chance, and Fred Dacimo will try to convince you that the Indian Point 2 nuclear plant is not so bad. He will tell you that it generates power for hospitals and police stations, not to mention your air-conditioner on hot, sweaty days.

If you change the subject, Mr. Dacimo, vice president for operations at the plant, will find a way to change it back.

"What we're doing here is an important thing for society," he said during an interview at his office this week. "The real question is not why aren't you shutting us down, but why aren't you extending our license and building more nuclear plants?"

Since taking charge a year ago, Mr. Dacimo, 49, has been working overtime to turn around a troubled plant with one of the worst safety records in the nation. He has overseen sweeping changes by a new owner, the Entergy Corporation, and sought to motivate the plant's 700-member work force with a forceful management style that mixes tough love with inspirational speeches.

But perhaps his biggest challenge has been deflecting public criticism about Indian Point since the World Trade Center attack. Mr. Dacimo, a big presence with his stocky build and confrontational attitude, has debated the plant's opponents and even invited them to tour Indian Point. Many have accepted his offer.

He often answers his own phone, though he has assistants and a media relations office at his disposal. "I think the adversity makes it more interesting," Mr. Dacimo said. "It adds a dimension to the job that keeps you busy."

It is Mr. Dacimo's unwillingness to take no for an answer that gets results, his supporters say. In the past year, Indian Point's records show that human errors at the plant have dropped by two-thirds, to 0.35 errors per 10,000 work hours. A backlog of work orders for equipment repairs has also dwindled to fewer than 130, from more than 560 a year ago.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission took note of improvements when it raised the plant's dismal safety rating, if only slightly, in August. Indian Point no longer has the worst safety rating of the nation's 103 commercial nuclear plants. Instead, it is only among the six worst.

Mr. Dacimo says it is just the first step. "I'll invite you back in January, and we won't even be one of the worst six," he says. "I hope this doesn't come across as boastful, but we will be one of the best plants in the next three years."

Indian Point's critics remain skeptical, however. "They've fixed the easy things first, and they've been overselling the improvements," said State Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, who represents central Westchester and has called for the plant's closing.

Mr. Dacimo grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, the older of two sons of a New York City firefighter and a homemaker. He says he started thinking about alternative energy sources waiting in long lines at the gas station to fill up his father's car.

He earned a degree in nuclear engineering in 1974 from the State University of New York's Maritime College in the Bronx, and went to work for nuclear power companies in Connecticut and Illinois.

In 1999, Mr. Dacimo was hired as the plant manager for Indian Point 3, the other working reactor at the site. Under his supervision, both Indian Point plants have made improvements, but he does not like to take credit alone. He salts his sentences with words like "teamwork," "accountability" and "pride." He has printed up plastic cards for his employees that list the plant's 2002 goals on the front, and the requisites for "personal contribution to success" on the back.

Some of his employees say that he can be demanding and impatient, though also dynamic and inspiring. "I think some people here really like him," said Thomas Burns, a health physics supervisor at the plant. "And everybody respects him."

Mr. Dacimo arrives at the plant every weekday by 6:30 a.m., and cannot recall the last sick day he took. His idea of a family vacation a few years ago was piling their sleeping bags into a pickup truck and driving around the country, covering 14,000 miles in 21 days.

But Mr. Dacimo has a sense of humor. On a table in his tidy office, he keeps a stash of Tootsie Rolls in a candy tray fashioned from the defective lid of a fuel container. Next to it, a clear glass jar bears the sign, "Failure to Use Phonetic Alphabet."

If an employee forgets to converse in alpha, bravo or delta when he or she is supposed to, he makes the offender drop a quarter into the jar. About $5 in bills and coins was in it this week. "This is how I pay for the candy," he said with a grin. "It's important because when using phone communications, you can make mistakes easily."

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