Team Effort Leverages Expertise in New Nuclear Field
– By Linton Levy –
Entergy Nuclear is teaming with energy firm ENERCON to offer distinct nuclear development services ranging from existing plant relicensing to full service new plant deployment, company officials announced today.
The new venture will tap the combined expertise of both nuclear renaissance leaders, allowing a full spectrum of customer-focused services that further the companies’ leadership in the nuclear arena.
“Working with ENERCON in this new business line is a natural fit for Entergy Nuclear,” said Kenneth Hughey, vice president of nuclear business development for Entergy Nuclear. “ENERCON has decades of experience in providing engineering, environmental, technical and management services in a highly competitive field. Coupled with Entergy’s leadership in operations and new plant deployment, this team has the potential to benefit the industry in many ways.”
Together, Entergy Nuclear and ENERCON will leverage their experience to offer services from a unique, customer-focused perspective. Primarily, the team will provide a full spectrum of services – from owner’s engineering capabilities to actual operations – that remain in the best interest of the customer.
As a potential operator, Entergy will have a special stake in the project’s long-term success. In addition, the team will represent no specific plant design and therefore will bring technology-diverse options to the table that best fit the client’s needs.
“Combining the capabilities, resources and perspectives of Entergy Nuclear and ENERCON provides a strong team of nuclear industry leaders to offer a unique service to current nuclear operating companies, and especially to non-nuclear companies considering nuclear as a fuel source for future electric power generation,” said John Richardson, president of ENERCON.
Entergy Nuclear today is an established service provider to the nuclear industry domestically and around the globe. Last year, the company announced a partnership in Taiwan to manage lifecycle issues around key nuclear assets there. In the United States, Entergy Nuclear already provides decommissioning services and operations/management contracts for other nuclear owners.
On November 5, 2007, Entergy announced plans to pursue a separation of the non-utility nuclear business from Entergy’s rate-regulated utility business through a tax-free spin-off of the non-utility nuclear business.
After the spin-off, the newly created Enexus will own six wholesale reactors that have been part of Entergy’s 11-reactor fleet. EquaGen LLC will have operating responsibility for the Enexus fleet, provide nuclear management and technical services to Entergy’s nuclear plants and continue to supply contracted services to the industry.
“One of Entergy Nuclear’s long-term strategies is to continue building on the foundation of services already offered to our industry partners,” said Donna Jacobs, senior vice president of planning, development and oversight for Entergy Nuclear. “This joint effort with ENERCON compliments the abilities of both our teams, positioning us to extend ourselves even further with the pending creation of EquaGen and allowing us to provide these services, and others, on a broader scale to the nuclear industry.”
Entergy Nuclear is a leader in new plant deployment activities as a charter member of and licensing lead for the NuStart consortium. These efforts have led to the submittal of two combined construction and operating license applications for potential new nuclear sites within Entergy’s regulated service territory, and approval and issuance of one early site permit. The submittal of license applications for River Bend Station in St. Francisville, La., and Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Miss., further maintains the option of building new nuclear plants to meet the region’s growing needs.
ENERCON has provided a broad range of services to customers in supporting new nuclear power plant deployment over the past five years. This includes strategic planning to evaluate the nuclear option as part of companies’ generation mixes, evaluations of reactor technology, site selection studies and development of license applications for submittal to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ENERCON has worked with more than 20 companies evaluating potential deployment of new nuclear power plants.
ENERCON is a diversified energy consulting company offering engineering, environmental and management services. ENERCON is an employee owned company of over 850 people located in 16 offices nationwide. With clients including most of the country’s nuclear power plants, the Department of Energy and many Fortune 500 companies, ENERCON delivers innovative solutions to energy and process industries.
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 14,700 employees.