The real reason, per his telling, was actually very close to the official reason: the welds on the coolant intake failed. The coverup, however, was this: the welds had actually been made using a new, then-highly-classified technique (some variation of electron-beam welding, I think), which the grunts doing weld inspection didn't have clearance to know about. So they were told to skip the inspection on those particular welds. Which yielded predictable results
I've spent the last 25 years wondering whether I'd accidentally stumbled across something classified, or was just being bullshitted by a drunk at a party. I look forward to finding out!