Thank you, George. Good Morning!

I’d like to thank Secretary Evans and Chairman Diaz for their excellent insights. Their remarks have set the stage nicely for what I want to talk with you about this morning.

It is also with deep gratitude that we wish Don Hintz a happy and healthy retirement! We are indeed honored to have benefited from Don’s leadership and his commitment to NEI and to our industry! We wish him and Arlene a world of fun in their next endeavors.

My thanks also go to George Hairston for his own long-standing leadership through NEI’s Executive Committee and as chair of our Governmental Affairs Advisory Committee, among others.

It’s a real pleasure to welcome him as the new chairman of NEI!

The voices we’ve heard today are those of visionaries, real leaders.

Yet now we stand on the cusp of a new era of leadership—in our industry and across the country.

This is my last planned speech here at the Nuclear Energy Assembly as NEI’s President and CEO ... as I plan to retire next year.

Apart from a new NEI chairman, we also have tremendous change on NEI’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.

Looking beyond NEI, we’re surrounded by opportunities for new leaders to emerge. At INPO. At EPRI. At many of our member companies represented here today.

There’s also been a transformation in leadership at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And with a presidential election on the horizon, the first Tuesday of November could be a catalyst for change in Washington ... with new White House staff, and with new agency leadership, not to mention the reelection of one-third of the U.S. Senate and all 435 House members.

These changes offer new opportunities!

And it is in these opportunities where we as an industry must take the long view and work together to create our future.

When we’ve done that, higher levels of safety, performance and public confidence have prevailed. We have proven again and again that we know how to unite our forces to shape our future. In fact, we’re quite good at it.

Earlier this morning, George Hairston alluded to some of the industry’s major achievements, which naysayers thought we’d never achieve.

But by working together ... by sharing our expertise ... by learning from one another, we have set the stage for future leaders to make our industry an instrument for change both in America and globally.

Back in 1973, FedEx founder Fred Smith was trying to grow a small company with just 14 aircraft. He had a vision. And a lot of naysayers were there to tell him he’d never achieve it. He introduced a new concept called “overnight delivery.”

We all know the rest of the story.

Smith once shared a lesson learned about that experience. It went something like this: “You borrow a little bit of money, and you have a serious creditor. You borrow a lot of money, you’ve got a partner.”

As Smith suggests in his approach to finance, our industry hasn’t just borrowed sparingly from one another. We are, in fact, true partners. The industry’s success demonstrates the wisdom of our long-standing commitment to cooperative efforts.

The industry is moving into the future with new leadership ... and fresh insights ... to guide its progress.

I need only look back at my own experience at NEI.

I have had the great fortune to work side-by-side with many of you through a great period of change.

In 1994, when NEI first formed, industry deregulation was looming ahead.

The conventional wisdom was that we’d never be able to compete in deregulated markets.

People questioned whether nuclear assets would survive such a market transformation. Companies were looking at new business in decommissioning all the plants at end of life.

I felt a lot like Fred Smith, with many naysayers, when I and our senior management team saw and communicated the vision that competition would be our best opportunity to demonstrate the true capabilities of nuclear energy—what we all know in our hearts was there from the beginning.

In the end, nuclear energy emerged as our nation’s lowest-cost source of clean and expandable baseload power ... and that set the foundations for our collective future.

Working closely with the NRC, we achieved a whole new safety regulatory paradigm ... one rightfully focused on what is important to safety.

And we are garnering greater political and public recognition for nuclear energy’s essential role in protecting our air quality.

This industry is so confident in its ability to succeed in a future none of us yet can see clearly ... that company after company is renewing nuclear plant licenses ... three companies are exploring the early siting permit process ... and three industry consortia have been formed to test the licensing process for new reactors.

Now ... as we position our industry to grasp new opportunities, we must use the power and expertise of our joint commitment to nuclear energy.

We are not only pursuing opportunities to maximize the value of today’s reactors, ensuring their safety and reliability ... retaining their competitive edge ... and supplying vital, environmentally sound electricity to our nation.

We are also taking the first steps to create the right conditions ... removing the obstacles before us—for the next generation of plants—so that we preserve nuclear energy’s benefits.

What, then, must we do today as we pursue the opportunities before us?

That brings me to my first imperative for our industry . . .

We must finish the job of building a safety-focused regulatory framework.
 
We have achieved remarkable results over the past five years since implementation of the revised regulatory oversight process.

We have seen great strides in applying risk-informed concepts.

We soon hope to have a new safety-focused rule dealing with how we procure and maintain plant systems and components.

But the job isn’t finished. Your companies must embrace the new safety-focused regulatory approaches ... and put them to use. And we must press forward with efforts to build a safety-focused framework that spans the breadth of regulations for plant operations and for new nuclear plants. A whole new way of doing business.

We and the NRC have the experience. Now it’s time to do it!

The best regulatory approaches ... and the regulatory stability needed for efficient operation ... can only take us so far.

To ensure a long-term future for our industry, we must maintain a stable, reliable, predictable and competitive supply of reactor fuel. And this is our second imperative:

We have been working closely with Congress in the sometimes-agonizing process of developing a national energy policy for future generations.

One reality of today’s energy landscape that is increasingly clear to policymakers is nuclear energy’s integral role in providing increased energy security and environmental benefits while meeting growing electricity demand over the last two decades.

We’re also taking the opportunity to emphasize the need for their leadership in achieving a predictable, stable fuel supply for our industry.

Two companies have applied for licenses for new enrichment facilities. Their success depends, in part, on efficient regulatory processes for licensing these facilities.

And this is just one of the elements needed to secure a competitive, reliable fuel supply. Such actions are key to maintaining our industry’s competitive edge.

Why? Market indicators portend new fuel supply dynamics, and this demands strategic industry action now.

Today, we are dependent on Russia for over 55 percent of our enrichment services and 30 percent of our uranium and conversion. Conversion services for uranium are provided by only one U.S. facility, which was shut down recently for several months due to a regulatory problem.

Western production of U308 has been less than demand for 19 years, while excess inventories are being used up. Spot prices for U308 during the first quarter this year reached the highest levels in almost 20 years, excluding the price spikes of the late 1980s.

We’re seeing limited production capabilities, reduced inventories and uncertainty in the U.S./Russian high-enriched uranium agreement ... and even restrictions in fuel transportation.

We need to ensure a long-term view such that fuel cycle companies can pursue the needed large capital investments in mine exploration and new mine construction.

We need to demonstrate that we can license new enrichment technology in the United States. We need to ensure that government policies and trade restrictions do not discourage investment or hamper supply reliability.

And we need to be prepared to weather contingencies should disruptions in supply occur.

What can you do? Get involved with NEI’s effort to fully examine the fuel supply chain. We are working with a large group of utilities and fuel supply companies to set a strategic vision for our future. We need all of you to do your part to see that we have means to address any unforeseen disruptions in new fuel supply.

As these initiatives unfold, we will need you to be engaged and to support these important efforts, with NRC, with the Congress and in the public.

The back end of the fuel cycle is no less important, and in fact poses significant challenges that we must meet together in the near term.

That brings me to our third imperative: Let’s finish the job of securing an operating used fuel repository at Yucca Mountain.

You all are to be commended for the extraordinary efforts that led to White House and congressional designation of Yucca Mountain two years ago as the nation’s used nuclear fuel repository site. What better case study to demonstrate the power of our coordinated action with policymakers, state and local leaders, the media and our customers?

We fully expect DOE to submit its license application for Yucca Mountain operations by year’s end, and industry has a clear strategy to promote an atmosphere of constructive engagement in Nevada—both with state and local leaders. Actually, Nevada and the industry share common goals at Yucca Mountain in that we want any repository that is built to be operated safely.

Earlier this month, we saw positive signs of growing interest of Nevadans to cultivate that engagement. Delegates to the Nevada Republican Convention sent the strongest signal yet that it’s time for state leaders to negotiate for benefits for the state and its citizens.

Like the majority of Nevadans, they view the project as inevitable. And as one delegate from Nye County—the repository host county—said, “This could be a boon to rural Nevada.”

Well put! I believe that we will hear more such statements. Clearly, the groundwork is laid for the next steps.

Outside Nevada, each of us is faced with another imperative ... at the state and local level throughout the country.

We all have a responsibility to communicate that we can safely ship used fuel in this country ... and have been for decades. You, your company’s governmental affairs and communications professionals and your technical experts must communicate to every stakeholder—in affected neighborhoods, at town meetings, at state houses and in Congress.

The time to begin these local activities is now.

Last week, the Department of Energy kicked off a new phase of public dialogue on transportation issues with public scoping meetings on the selection of the Caliente rail route in Nevada for transferring used fuel to the repository.

This dialogue is not limited to Nevada. It also involves outreach in some 40 states with transportation routes for used fuel to Yucca Mountain.

And there is a role for each of us and each of your companies to play. It is incumbent on us all to remain engaged every step of the way as DOE refines its transportation program.

We cannot stand by idly and let misleading statements from critics of the project go unchallenged ... particularly those that impact transportation through your communities. It’s time to take the initiative.

NEI will take the lead to coordinate outreach and advance the right messages. But the key player in reaching the right people in the right venues at the right times is you.

Call your state and local leaders. Contact the key players in your state houses and in local communities that could be affected. You know who they are.

Be there first. The opportunity is yours now.

I would also suggest you have the opportunity to engage those key stakeholders already established in your plant communities. Clearly, we have built-in means of reaching out as we reassess the effectiveness of our plants’ emergency preparedness programs.

Most of us already have excellent relationships through our plant emergency programs.

And if you’re not confident in those relationships ... both at the state and federal levels ... it’s necessary to ask, “Why not?” These contacts, already well established, provide an ideal entrée to discuss transportation issues.

I have laid out three key imperatives this morning ... aimed at achieving regulatory stability, a secure fuel supply and an operating used fuel repository. I am confident we will work together ... uniting industry’s vital forces through NEI ... to realize success.

Remember, our charge for this Nuclear Energy Assembly is to create our future. As part of that future, I can assure you we’ll have a new view of what’s considered the norm—or conventional wisdom.

The new conventional wisdom could be that nuclear plants get full recognition for their clean-air benefits. That could be a conventional wisdom that new, advanced design nuclear power plants can be built in four years at a cost of $1,000 to $1,200 per kilowatt, or less—without government assistance.

Quite simply, we must continue to focus on a new view of what’s considered normal. That transformation, I expect, is not too far into the future ... and I believe it will hold tremendous promise for this industry.

Some of you here today may already have a view of what should be considered “normal” in tomorrow’s world.

After all, we already are addressing many of the fundamental elements that lead to the long-term viability of our industry.

I don’t think it’s a wild-eyed guess that someone in this room has already decided to build a new nuclear power plant.

And why not? We need only to look at the progress to date. Three companies are pursuing early site permits. Three consortia—18 companies in all—are exploring the combined construction and operating licenses for advanced reactors in partnership with DOE. The market conditions and economics ultimately will determine the timing of a new plant order.

It’s gratifying for our industry that some senior federal policymakers are pushing hard to bring that first new plant order to reality ... and to do so on a schedule that is more aggressive than some of us would predict.

Work is under way to identify the right financial stimulus for new reactors, including funding for first-of-a-kind engineering and design certification ... production tax credits ... accelerated depreciation ... in broad terms, a portfolio of options most acceptable to the financial community and to various company business needs.

By such actions, are we not creating our future?

We have no better opportunity than now to reach out to our congressional delegations ... and to our state and local leaders to the financial community ... to communicate our progress to date and cultivate the right environment for a new generation of nuclear power plants and stronger public support for the future of our industry.

Public support for the importance of nuclear energy in our electricity portfolio and even for building new plants is stronger than it ever has been. There’s an emerging, more positive attitude among the public, including many young adults who are not encumbered by the protest era of our industry.

We have an opportunity to start anew in defining our industry for a new generation and we should do so proactively ... with pride in what we have achieved to date and with a vision of what we can achieve in the future.

Just last year, Don Hintz stood before you and described a picture of the world 50 years from now.

He projected that the world’s population will have grown to 10 billion. That the planet in year 2053 is largely free of drought, poverty and disease. Fifteen hundred reactors are operating worldwide. Reactors worldwide are generating hydrogen, a commonplace fuel for transportation.

Is such a future possible? Don asked. Is it likely? Then he answered his own question: “That depends on us.”

True indeed ... and this is inspirational to me in a highly personal way. Because I know from my own experience that this industry has achieved great things ... and we will achieve even more in the future.

Each year, I have stood before this distinguished gathering and addressed those actions before us, framing the industry’s strategic direction, focusing—as I have today—on the leading areas demanding our attention and action.

President Woodrow Wilson once said that we all grow by dreams. Some let dreams die, he said, “but others nourish and protect them, nurse them through bad days ... to the sunshine and light which always come.”

Just three years ago, NEI shared a vision for the future of this industry. We call it Vision 2020. At the foundation of that vision is the addition of 50,000 megawatts of new nuclear energy by the year 2020 ... and an additional 10,000 megawatts of power from existing reactors.

It is through vision ... or dreams, as President Wilson put it ... that our industry will continue to grow.

Serving as NEI’s President and CEO has been a great privilege indeed.

I have borne witness to a period of staggering change, of rebirth and reinvigoration.

We are now seeing real progress toward achieving our Vision. NEI and our 270 member companies are working to translate our dreams into reality. I see the dedication every day in our NEI management team and all of us who work in Washington. And I encourage you to amplify your efforts to transform this Vision 2020 to reality.

Today’s imperatives are merely part of a grand continuum toward realizing that vision.

My focus this morning has been on long-standing issues that require our attention and our action ... finishing the job with regulatory stability ... securing an affordable, predictable fuel supply ... and finishing the job at Yucca Mountain so that the federal government honors its commitment to our companies and our customers.

We’ll achieve success in all these areas … and more.

And this will come through your day-to-day toil ... the persistent pursuit of safety and reliability … excellence in plant operations ... the ceaseless search for better and better ways of doing business.

Together, you are creating your future.

Thank you.