Thank you, Vic. Good morning everyone.

What a fitting collection of leaders to address the issue at hand today … the issue of leaders and leadership at a time when this remarkable business of nuclear energy charts a bold new future. I applaud Vic Parrish for his leadership in bringing this topic to the fore in this session.

And I’m very honored to speak to you today … because the timing couldn’t be better. In the event you haven’t noticed, nuclear energy is experiencing nothing short of a renaissance in every sense of the word.

I could ask for no better backdrop for my remarks today.

My intent today is three-fold:

• First, to relay my perspective on nuclear energy’s renaissance … to share my own sense of why this has come about … among the media … among policymakers … and among the public at large.
• Second, to outline a dynamic vision that is already taking shape ... a vision unveiled just a few months ago at NEI’s Nuclear Energy Assembly ... what we’ve termed “Vision 2020” ... a vision setting forth a clear framework to guide this industry over the next 20 years.
• And third, to examine some of the challenges before us ... and to issue a call for the leadership necessary to turn the vision into reality.