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Tue, Jun 20

Episode #127: 'The Resurgence of Nuclear as a Utility Decarbonization Pathway' with Kimberly Cook-Nelson, Chief Nuclear Officer at Entergy [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

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As most major utilities set their sites to net zero carbon goals in the coming decades, the myriad of tools available mean that no two power companies are taking exactly the same road map to decarbonization. But in recent years, the fervor behind nuclear energy as being a key part of that equation has been growing rapidly. From small modular reactors nearing commercialization to the recent breakthroughs in fusion to the general public acceptance of nuclear energy as a safe and reliable power source, the industry is trending in the right direction. Entergy has been among the major utility companies leading the way in this regard, which means the organization's nuclear leader has a lot to say.

In this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast, host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester welcome Kimberly Cook-Nelson, Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer of Entergy, to discuss the state of the U.S. nuclear sector today and the pathway she sees it taking moving forward. With growing public support for nuclear power as a clean and reliable energy source, Kimberly shares how nuclear energy is essential in achieving Entergy's commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. She also highlights the unique position nuclear is in to do so while maintaining grid reliability, addressing price volatility, and increasing sustainability. Listen in as Kimberly emphasizes the importance of nuclear safety and dispelling misconceptions through education and community engagement.

Prefer to Read vs. Listening? Scroll Down to Read Transcript.

Thanks to the sponsor of this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast: West Monroe.  

 

Key Links:

Kimberly Cook-Nelson's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/kimberly-cook-nelson

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/ 

 

TRANSCRIPT

Jason Price: 

Welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast, the show that brings leading minds from the energy industry to discuss the challenges and trends that are transforming and modernizing our energy system. And a quick thank you to West Monroe, our sponsor of today's show. Now let's talk energy.

I'm Jason Price, Energy Central podcast host and director with West Monroe. Coming to you from New York City and with me as always, from Orlando, Florida is Energy Central producer and community manager, Matt Chester. Matt, we're diving back into the nuclear sector today. An energy source that our listeners know full well is being thrust more into the spotlight recently as utilities try to decarbonize while maintaining grid reliability, a pair of goals that nuclear energy is pretty uniquely positioned to accomplish in today's energy landscape. But before we dive in, do you want to give our audience listeners some suggestions of other podcast episodes that we've dove into the world of nuclear energy?

 

Matt Chester: 

I'd be happy to Jason. And actually if you go to the SoundCloud page for the Power Perspectives podcast, you'll see that we've built a handful of playlists focused on different topic areas and themes that come up time and again in our expert interviews, one of those playlists is entitled Going Nuclear with the Power Perspectives Podcast. And there you'll find some great episodes that lead into the topics we'll discuss today. We've had a conversation with Idaho National Labs on the combination of nuclear microgrids, a discussion about DOE's gateway for accelerated innovation in nuclear, an overview of small modular reactors from Ontario Power Generation and several more. And we're happy to add today to the list as well.

 

Jason Price: 

That's great, Matt. Thank you. And to add to the list we already know, we'll have an enlightening discussion since we have the privilege of welcoming today's conversation, the Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer of Entergy, Kimberly Cook-Nelson. Kimberly is here to walk us through the top goals, trends and areas of focus from energies and nuclear program in 2023 and beyond. So let's bring her in and start the conversation. Kimberly Cook-Nelson, welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Thank you, Jason, really appreciate it. I appreciate all of you for having me here today. I'm really excited to be here and discuss this key passion of mine, which is clean generating nuclear power.

 

Jason Price: 

Fantastic. And we're thrilled to have you, Kimberly, so we really appreciate it. We're excited to dive into the latest and greatest in nuclear sector and it really does feel like in the US, the nuclear sector is having a bit of a renaissance right now, at least when it comes to public support and potential new opportunities. Can you talk to our viewers about why this might be happening at this moment and what that means for energy specifically?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Absolutely. And public support and nuclear's popularity does continue to grow as a country and as the country looks to decarbonize. In fact, the recent Gallup survey found that 85% of the US adults support the use of nuclear power. Its highest level of public support since 2012 with nuclear power being clean carbon-free and available 24/7, 365 days a year. There is an understanding that nuclear, with solar and wind and hydro, is paramount. And that's really important for our goals at Entergy, we made a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and an interim commitment to have 50% of our power generation rate come from clean carbon free energy sources like nuclear by 2030. So we also plan to retire all of our coal power generating plants by the end of 2030. So, really keeping nuclear in our energy mix makes those retirements possible. In addition, public support for nuclear will help us in the regulatory arena when we seek to relicense our current nuclear facilities at our fleet.

 

Jason Price: 

Yeah, that's great. I'd like to learn more, if you don't mind digging in a bit further into sort of Entergy's nuclear landscape and more specifically the broader plans of the utility roadmap when it comes to addressing the myriad of challenges that I'm sure you're facing as all utilities are. And that's price volatility, supply chain shortages, and the need to increase sustainability while maintaining reliability in an affordable manner. So talk to us, how does nuclear fit in with the rest of the grid mix Entergy and what are the expected trends of that mix moving forward?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Well, as a power provider for over 3 million customers in our four southern states, Entergy does play a critical role in developing the clean energy solutions essential to lowering greenhouse gas emissions across the economy without compromising affordability or service reliability. Nuclear energy is an affordable source of base load power and it's carbon free. So it's essential to meeting our obligation now and far into the future. I was reading a Bank of America global research report just this weekend that suggested that nuclear is one of the least expensive sources of energy with the highest energy return on investment. And currently nuclear energy makes up 27% of our grid mix while renewable power like solar makes up about 2%. So our mix is definitely changing as we work toward our net-zero goal with Entergy. And we're investing heavily right now in solar, but wind, solar and nuclear energy are a balanced mix that will get us to the carbon free future that we're all looking for.

 

Jason Price: 

Sure. All right. But like Matt said, we've had a number of thought leaders talk about nuclear in the podcast in the past, and the topic always comes up about the public perception, which I'm sure you touch upon in your role. So share with us as there remains a strong fear in some corners and whether it's in documentaries or in publications and such about nuclear concerns and nuclear disasters and how it sort of raises the anxieties of people and the public. What do you see as the role that you and your team play in educating and clearing up? I'm sure you would define as, for the most part, as misconceptions in the public?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Yes, definitely. And we're very thankful that public perception is changing in the favor of the nuclear industry. The nuclear energy industry is one of the safest industries in the country. It's heavily regulated by the nuclear regulatory commission. Nuclear has had no death from routine operation and has orders of magnitude safer than other forms of energy production. But it's really the responsibility of every nuclear professional to know the facts about the industry's history and be able to communicate those facts when the questions and concerns come up. Knowing what happened at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, and why, really is a part of the nuclear professionals training.

It's imperative that we understand what happened and why, both to prevent future occurrences and to underscore why safety is first and foremost in everything we do. But the bottom line message really is that nuclear is safe, nuclear is secure, and we have the best of the best operating at our nuclear plant. Educating our young people about our industry and the opportunities within it is also essential. Our employees are terrific about volunteering to take school groups on plant tours, teach them about nuclear generation career opportunities, plant safety, and so much more. And we also visit schools, we attend STEM fairs and participate in other community activities where our folks are ambassadors and can really tell our nuclear story and it's very important to us.

 

Jason Price: 

That's great. I'd love to take a tour of a nuclear plan. That sounds really great.

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Come on.

 

 

Jason Price: 

Yeah, thank you. I understand you took over about a year ago as Chief Nuclear Officer. Can you share with us what exactly that role entails? And certainly I'd also love you to reflect, if you can, about what it means to be one of the few female CNOs of the industry and what does that mean to you?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Yeah, well, first and foremost, my job is to represent the more than 3,800 employees internally that we have at Entergy and all of the folks across our industry and with our other stakeholders. My team makes sure that we operate our plant safely, securely, and reliably. And personally, I really like going out, visiting the plant, talking to our folks, listening to their ideas, really get to know them better. Because all of our success as a company and fleet really belongs to them. I just get to talk about them and their efforts.

And I feel very fortunate to be in this job and working with the great people that I get to work with, not only because of the cool things that I've got to do over the years operating nuclear power plants, but I really do work with great people every day. And I mentioned I'm one of the few female leads in our industry. It's not been an easy road, but it has been very, very rewarding. And my hope is that other young ladies can see me sitting here and know that if I can do it, they can do it too. And I hope that I can be an emphasis to get more ladies into our field and really climbing this ladder.

 

Jason Price: 

That's interesting. I'd like to talk a little bit more about the talent development that you're describing. Certainly, since the fleet of nuclear has either been on the standstill or very slow growth, it must be a bit challenging to find talent to help build the pipeline of the future of nuclear workforce. So share with us, what does that entail for you and how do you measure success in those pursuits?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Well, it starts with getting into the schools and we have teams that do STEM awareness, as I mentioned, in elementary schools, middle schools. We have children's museums. We work with Girl Scouts, there's just so much more. And we also have partnerships with key colleges and universities in the area where we're located to also support recruitment and also support those schools and their success. And so it starts with getting the schools and getting a pipeline going. And then the next step is retention.

A key focus there is on ensuring that we have a positive work environment. Our big focus right now in nuclear and energy is around employee engagement and employee empowerment. We want to make sure that our folks feel valued and heard every day in everything that they're doing and that they have a strong sense of purpose. And in the end, we really desire to be that employer of choice. So we monitor our retention rates constantly, comparing against our peers, making adjustments based on surveys and interviews, and then of course, getting out and acting on that feedback. So our focus really is all three of those areas, starting with how we get the pipeline, how we make sure that we retain folks, and then making sure that we learn from the folks that we don't.

 

Jason Price: 

Yeah, that's great. It sounds like your role crosses both as much externally facing as it is internally facing. So on that note, what about the pursuit of community engagement in general, especially in the energy service area? How are you looking to transform the role Entergy plays in engaging with those communities, both supporters and skeptics around nuclear energy?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Well, community engagement has always been a focal point for our employees, and I don't really see a change in. I've seen that focus since the day I stepped in the door over 27 years ago. And our communities are one of our key stakeholders along with customers, employees, and our owners being the others. So our folks not only work in the communities in which the plants are at, our nuclear headquarters are located, but they also live there as well. And they're dedicated to improving the lives of our customers and the communities that we live in. A key example, parts of our service territory recently were hit by an EF4 tornado, and we had an outpouring of on the ground support donations, food, money from our employees, and we even had some of our folks drive four hours from Russellville, Arkansas to Rolling Fork, Mississippi to help the victims of the tornadoes. Cutting down trees and whatever we could do to help, our employees are incredibly generous and very caring.

We also have students and teachers visiting our plants where they can learn about clean carbon free nuclear energy. They have the chance to meet many of our nuclear professionals. And once they come to our plants and meet our folks, they have knowledge about the facts and the merits of nuclear energy. But aside from responding to those in need, our employees are also very involved in telling the nuclear story in our community and school events through school tours, as I've mentioned. And these not only bring value to our communities, but are also critical in building a local pipeline of future workers, which I've mentioned that I'm very focused on.

 

Jason Price: 

If I may, here's a metrics driven question: how many people typically, on a 24-hour cycle, work at a nuclear power plant at any time?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

I don't know if I'm following on a 24-hour cycle, so how many people do I have at say each one of my plants on a daily basis?

 

Jason Price: 

Sure, go with that.

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

It depends on the plant, but it can be anywhere from 800 to 1,200 folks. Some of our plants have one reactor, some have two, so it varies from there.

 

Jason Price: 

Gotcha. That's a big staff. Well, this is great, Kimberly. This is really interesting to get an inside look at the nuclear space, particularly at the utility. So at this point, I would like to pivot for a moment to what we call our lightning round, which gives us an opportunity to learn more about Kimberly Cook-Nelson, the person, rather than the professional. And this is where we ask you five questions. You are to keep the response to one word or phrase. So Kimberly, are you ready?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

I'm ready.

 

Jason Price: 

All right. What's your dream vacation?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

I'll go with climbing Machu Picchu. That's still on the bucket list.

 

Jason Price: 

Okay. Public figure you'd most want to share a meal with?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Condoleezza Rice.

 

Jason Price: 

And what would you have requested to be served at that meal?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

I'm kind of a surf and turf person. We're going to go rib eyes and main lobster tails.

 

Jason Price: 

Who have been your role models?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Well, certainly my parents, and probably too many mentors that I could name, but we'll go with my parents.

 

Jason Price: 

What are you most driven by?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Myself. I like to win and I like to make other people successful.

 

Jason Price: 

Very nice. Well, we're going to give you the last words, so thank you again for your time. And what is some closing thoughts or messages you'd like to make sure that our audience walks away with?

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Well, certainly, again, I appreciate you having me. This has been fun and different. And to all listening, if you have not read up on nuclear power lately, I encourage all of you to take some time. Our future certainly is bright and you're going to see more of us soon.

 

Jason Price: 

Well stated. Kimberly, we want to thank you for joining us today and for advancing the conversation around nuclear energy in 2023. As our community continues discussing this topic, we encourage them to do so in the comments for this podcast post, and hopefully you'll be able to chime in on Energy Central as that happens. So until then, thanks for sharing your insight with us on today's episode of the podcast.

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson: 

Awesome. Thanks again for having me, and thanks everyone who took the time to listen.

 

Jason Price: 

Absolutely. And we also want to give a shout out of thanks to the podcast sponsors that made today's episode possible. Thanks to West Monroe. West Monroe works with the nation's largest electric gas and water utilities in their telecommunication grid modernization and digital and workforce transformations. West Monroe brings a multidisciplinary team that blends utility operations and technology expertise to address modernizing aging infrastructure and advisory on transportation, electrification, ADMS deployments, data and analytics, and cybersecurity. And once again, I'm your host, Jason Price. Plug in and stay fully charged in the discussion by hopping into the community - energycentral.com. And we'll see you next time at the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

 

About Energy Central Podcasts

The ‘Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast’ features conversations with thought leaders in the utility sector. At least twice monthly, we connect with an Energy Central Power Industry Network community member to discuss compelling topics that impact professionals who work in the power industry. Some podcasts may be a continuation of thought-provoking posts or discussions started in the community or with an industry leader that is interested in sharing their expertise and doing a deeper dive into hot topics or issues relevant to the industry.

The ‘Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast’ is the premiere podcast series from Energy Central, a Power Industry Network of Communities built specifically for professionals in the electric power industry and a place where professionals can share, learn, and connect in a collaborative environment. Supported by leading industry organizations, our mission is to help global power industry professionals work better. Since 1995, we’ve been a trusted news and information source for professionals working in the power industry, and today our managed communities are a place for lively discussions, debates, and analysis to take place. If you’re not yet a member, visit www.EnergyCentral.com to register for free and join over 200,000 of your peers working in the power industry.

The Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast is hosted by Jason Price, Community Ambassador of Energy Central. Jason is a Business Development Executive at West Monroe, working in the East Coast Energy and Utilities Group. Jason is joined in the podcast booth by the producer of the podcast, Matt Chester, who is also the Community Manager of Energy Central and energy analyst/independent consultant in energy policy, markets, and technology.  

If you want to be a guest on a future episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast, let us know! We’ll be pulling guests from our community members who submit engaging content that gets our community talking, and perhaps that next guest will be you! Likewise, if you see an article submitted by a fellow Energy Central community member that you’d like to see broken down in more detail in a conversation, feel free to send us a note to nominate them.  For more information, contact us at [email protected]. Podcast interviews are free for Expert Members and professionals who work for a utility.  We have package offers available for solution providers and vendors. 

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