News & Events

Good morning, and thank you for that introduction, Skip.

Welcome to San Francisco. I’m pleased to be here this morning and, as chairman of the NEI Board of Directors, especially pleased to see such a large and enthusiastic audience for this annual Nuclear Energy Assembly.

My assignment this morning is to give you a status report on our industry but, before I do that, I have a confession to make.

Until fairly recently, I must tell you that I did not think I would ever find myself, as I did yesterday, sitting with my colleagues on the NEI Board of Directors, discussing plans for new nuclear power plant construction in the United States—not just wishful thinking, mind you, but solid, rational, disciplined business plans.

Those of you who know my background may understand why I never expected to be in that position. I started my career with a large law firm, Hunton & Williams, and I participated in licensing and prudence proceedings for a number of today’s nuclear plants. That was not always a happy experience. Then I took a position at Long Island Lighting Company in 1985, charged with completing a 20-year licensing and construction process. I succeeded in that goal and then, to avoid bankruptcy, turned the keys over to the State of New York to shut down the plant. Then I moved to Detroit Edison in 1994, and found a utility that was still struggling to recover from the financial stress associated with construction of the Fermi nuclear plant.