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Nuclear Energy Industry Transitions

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By Janice
Spencer Abraham, former U.S. secretary of energy, is AREVA Inc.’s new non-executive chairman. Abraham will support AREVA’s business expansion in North America. Abraham, who served as energy secretary from 2001 to 2005, also is chairman and CEO of the Abraham Group, an international strategic consulting firm that focuses on all sectors of the energy market. He represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2001.

William Hecht, chairman and CEO of PPL Corp. since 1993, will retire this year. James Miller, PPL’s president and chief operating officer since 2005, will replace him. Hecht has been with the company since 1964; Miller since 2001.

Lisa Epifani, majority counsel for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on electricity, oil and gas issues, has left the committee to become special assistant to the president for economic policy on the National Economic Council. Epifani joined the Senate Energy Committee in 2003 and previously was a political appointee at the Department of Energy.

Mark Menezes will leave the House Energy and Commerce Committee for the private sector March 15. Menezes has served as the committee’s chief counsel for energy and the environment since 2003. He will become a partner in the law firm Hunton & Williams.

Thomas D’Agostino has been sworn in as deputy administrator for defense programs in the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). He will lead NNSA’s weapons programs, which maintain the reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. D’Agostino’s previous position was assistant deputy administrator for program integration at NNSA. President Bush had nominated him for his new role on Jan. 27, and the Senate confirmed him on Feb. 17. D’Agostino also is a captain in the U.S. Naval Reserves.

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