OPG employee recognized for career-long dedication to safety
For more than 20 years, OPG’s Farrukh Siddiqi has worked to keep the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station operating safely for the public and the environment.
His years of dedication were recently recognized by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) with the TSSA Legacy Award, part of the provincial regulator’s 2020 Safety Awards. The award recognizes an individual or organization that has demonstrated a history of safety conscientiousness.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the recognition from TSSA,” said Siddiqi, a Senior Technical Engineer. “This is a collective honour for myself, Darlington, and OPG. It’s all because of our company’s safety culture that we have safety consciousness built into our daily routine at work.”
Siddiqi has been a Pressure Boundary Specialist at Darlington since 2002. In this role, he ensures all work completed within the pressure boundary – which includes all pressure-retaining components of a nuclear reactor such as pressure vessels, piping, pumps and valves – is executed to OPG’s Nuclear Codes and Standards, and federal regulations.
Siddiqi works closely with Authorized Nuclear Inspection Agencies like the TSSA to ensure the Darlington station meets safety standards and maintains its Certificate of Authorization. This certificate ensures Darlington can continue to operate safely and reliably as per its Power Reactor Operating Licence.
“This is a collective honour for myself, Darlington, and OPG. It’s all because of our company’s safety culture that we have safety consciousness built into our daily routine at work.”Farrukh Siddiqi, Senior Technical Engineer at Darlington Nuclear GS
Outside of his main responsibilities, Siddiqi also provides his expertise to support Certificate of Inspections of more than 900 pressure vessels currently installed and operational at Darlington. He also reviews several mechanical joint procedures for pressure boundary compliance before they are sent to regulators for acceptance.
“At the end of the day, we have to meet the safety standards,” Siddiqi said. “I have developed a very good relationship with the TSSA. As an independent organization, they cannot go into the radiation areas in the station while the systems are in service and inspect everything, so they rely on us for our precise and balanced input with relevant documentation. We have an honest and good working relationship with them, which they appreciate.”
Siddiqi started his career with OPG, then known as Ontario Hydro, in 1997. His first role was in Environmental Qualification at the Bruce nuclear station, a job that saw him help ensure the station’s equipment would safely operate as per design under an unlikely accident scenario. After three years, he made the move to Darlington to work in a similar capacity before making the shift to his current role.
As a passionate advocate for safety standards, Siddiqi shares his knowledge in regular meetings of the CANDU Owners Group pressure boundary working group, which comprises experts from other CANDU stations within Canada and around the world.
Over the years, the engineer has also mentored and coached more than 10 interns and new graduates working at Darlington, some of whom have gone onto management positions with OPG.
“Mentoring newcomers to the company and helping to instill a culture of safety in them as well as helping them learn the ropes, it was a very satisfying and rewarding experience,” Siddiqi said.
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