Preview: Fernando Pla-Barby
Feb 4, 2026
University of Puerto Rico Professor and former PREPA employee Fernando Pla-Barby looks back at the early days of operations at the BONUS facility.
I wasn't there long at the Bonus plant because the army called me and I had to leave immediately
and to serve me Besides being in the Bonus operations department I once spent some time in analysis
eoretical analysis and I had to take a flight in a small plane from here to San Juan but the memories
They're good and I don't have anything specific to suggest It was a very positive experience and when I finished the
military service the plant had shut down When I applied to join the program and was paid the
studios I was a high school employee But I don't know what that position is called It was a group of
Ten people—just ten of us But I was paid a monthly stipend from high school back then Sorry every fifteen days
I paid The authority of the river sources that's what it was called And I was at the Bonus plant
by November 1966 so I think I started in August under the authority of 1964
and I ended up staying until November 1966 My first year and summer were spent at the university and the rest of the time here
first in training and then in plant operation I had the experience of climbing up
power in the reactor I had the experience of synchronizing the generator to the grid How many
e experiences I had the ones I remember all pleasant But that was when I graduated
from the college In addition to earning my engineering degree I had completed
ROTC and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army requiring me to serve