Ken Bych
Born/Raised: I was born in Glen Cove, on Long Island, NY in 1955. I grew up in Syosset in a Catholic family of 5 kids. We always had love, support and the necessities of life. After the blizzard of 1967, we moved to LA in 1969 and Dad worked at LAX. I went to high school in Woodland Hills. 4 out of 5 of my siblings graduated college. We all grew up traveling on TWA, with several cross-country drives taken as well.
Education:
B.S. Engineering Physics, UC Berkeley 1977
M.S. Nuclear Engineering, University of Washington 1981
Professional Engineer, State of California, Nuclear, 1984
Career:
I took a good paying job out of college with Schlumberger Well Services for 2 years. That worked out well, as I saved enough money and obtained a full ride from the Department of Energy to pay for my fusion research. But the allure of fusion was mitigated by the reality ofthe (at the time) unsolved physics challenges, so I chose to work as an engineer in fission power and took a job at PG&E in 1981 to help start up Diablo Canyon (DCPP). I was employed in the SF Nuclear Office for 12 years and lived in the East Bay during that time (Oakland Hills & Walnut Creek).
I worked supporting DCPP for 40 years in many engineering and leadership roles, retiring in 2021 as the Nuclear Engineering Manager. We had many significant accomplishments as a team, and the plant was and is recognized as a very safe and well operated plant.
Reason to move to the Central Coast: My wife Carol and I moved to San Luis Obispo in 1993 with a one-year-old child and a second on the way. PG&E offered me a promotion to come to work at the Plant.
Hobbies/Interests: I have always had a love of recreating in the outdoors and playing sports: hiking, snow skiing, kayaking as well as baseball fan, college football fan (plus Niners). We love to travel and have made many memorable trips around the country and overseas as a family. They still love to join us when they can.
Notable Accomplishments Personal highlights:
- I have visited all 7 continents
- I have snow skied over 750 thousand vertical feet in a season, and average above 500K per year in retirement (North Lake Tahoe).
- I went to the first Bill Graham presents: “Day on the Green” Concert in Oakland California in 1974.
Professional highlights:
- Recognized by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for implementing the first US probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) computer tool for daily operator use in the control room; and for implementing a nuclear version of US airline maintenance model emphasizing predictive maintenance technologies and addressing prevention of likely failure modes (reliability centered maintenance)
- Chairman of the nuclear industry reliability effort for two years.
- Led the implementation of Aging Management Studies at DCPP for major component groups, conducted single point vulnerability studies across all plant systems and led many teams in analyzing and responding to equipment challenges using industry standard methods.
- Hired many of the existing engineering staff at DCPP.
Family: My wife Carol and I celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary in April. We love to travel and to visit our three adult kids and two grandkids. Our adult kids are successful professionals and have a supportive and great significant other in their lives.