NEI Nuclear Notes

The following is a guest post from Natalie Wood, vice president coordinator at Entergy's River Bend Station.  Natalie Wood As I prepared to take on my role as the president of the North American Young Generation in Nuclear , I spent a lot of time thinking about how to best align the organization to help advance the future of nuclear. As the future leaders of this industry, we need to better utilize our voices as young professionals. In 2015, we reached 54,668 people sharing the benefits of nuclear energy. This is impressive, but how can we speak with one voice to make an even greater impact? What if we changed how we think about NAYGN? Instead of thinking about what we are doing on a small scale, we think about what we are accomplishing as a way of helping the industry. This “what if” helped to drive the creation of a new initiative called The NAYGN Impact. On May 23, The NAYGN Impact was introduced to the attendees at the NAYGN conference in Miami. This initiative wa...

The American nuclear energy industry is heading to Miami this week for the 2016 Nuclear Energy Assembly  ( agenda ). The theme of the meeting is Delivering the Nuclear Promise , which is also the industry-wide effort championed by NEI that aims to advance safety, reliability and economic performance at U.S. nuclear power plants. We'll be live streaming two of the most exciting panels on May 24 on YouTube. First, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, we'll have a panel on  global climate issues  that will feature  Larry Makovich  of IHS CERA,  Jason Grumet  of the  Bipartisan Policy Center , Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, the former Secretary of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and  Doug Vine  of  C2ES . And then at 1:30 P.M. EDT we'll follow that up with a closer look at  new reactor development . That panel will be chaired by NEI Chief Operating Officer Maria Korsnick and feature Jacob DeWitte of Oklo , John Hopkins of NuScale Power ,...

Fertel lays down the law at the DOE summit. If Washington policy makers hadn't heard the news before, they should have it figured out now after yesterday's DOE summit (archive of live stream) -- a critical part of America's infrastructure, it's nuclear power plants, are under imminent threat of premature closure and the costs to the nation and the world could be enormous. If you haven't already watched the summit video , do so right now, as DOE has helpfully archived all of the proceedings online. And when you have a chance, be sure to check out the #ActForNuclear hashtag on Twitter. As of yesterday afternoon, it was trending on Twitter in Washington , making it all but certain that staffers and their bosses all around the town were getting the message about what's at stake. There were so many highlights, there isn't time to detail them all. But before you dive into the live stream, it would be a good idea to read NEI CEO Marv Fertel's speech t...

In a few minutes, NEI CEO Marv Fertel will take the podium at a summit sponsored by the Department of Energy about at-risk nuclear plants  (live stream). His speech, just posted online, makes for sobering reading: We thought the first plant shutdowns at Kewaunee and Vermont Yankee would galvanize action to prevent additional shutdowns. We were obviously mistaken. Please understand, however, that these early shutdowns are not just isolated events. They are evidence of a larger systemic problem. So this summit is part of a wake-up call—a wake-up call to drive action by the states … by the federal government … by the policy community and our political institutions … by anyone concerned about economic growth, environmental protection, jobs and reliability of electricity supply. Read the rest right now .

The following is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior director of policy analysis and strategic planning at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattLWald . Nuclear energy is by far the largest source of carbon prevention in the United States, but this is a rough time to be in the business of selling electricity due to cheap natural gas and a flood of subsidized renewable energy. Some nuclear plants have closed prematurely, and others likely will follow. In recent weeks, Exelon and the Omaha Public Power District said that they might close the Clinton, Quad Cities and Fort Calhoun nuclear reactors. As Joni Mitchell’s famous song says, “ Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone .” More than 100 energy and policy experts will gather in a U.S. Senate meeting room on May 19 to talk about how to improve the viability of existing nuclear plants. The event will be webcast, and a link will be available here . Unlike other energy sources, nuclear power plants g...

Elizabeth Fako The following is a guest post by  Elizabeth Fako, a communications specialist at Entergy's  River Bend Nuclear Station . When people ask what my favorite part of my job is, the answer is easy: I get to spend every day working with people who think in a completely opposite way than me and I love that. The operators, engineers and other “technically-minded” people I work closely with constantly challenge me to be a better communicator, nuclear professional and communications coach. As much as I love that aspect of my job, there’s something to be said for spending time with like-minded people. That’s one reason I found NEI’s Fundamentals of Nuclear Communication workshop so valuable; I not only got to spend three days working with other communications professionals, but also with other communicators from the nuclear industry – a career as unique as it sounds. Our presenters included NEI representatives and industry experts, sharing a wealth of knowledge r...