On an unseasonably warm day in October 1990—Halloween, to be exact—Marv Fertel began a new job as a vice president at a nuclear industry trade association in the heart of Washington, D.C. No one recalls whether his coffee-table candy dish owes its origin to his Halloween start date, but 26 years later, staff members still take advantage of the mid-afternoon sugar pick-me-up while having a few words with the boss.
At least one part of that ritual is changing, however. Fertel retires this month as president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a position he has held since 2009.
Fertel is known as a hard-charging executive. He typically powers through a couple of hours of work each day before most Washingtonians have had their first cup of coffee. Exelon Corp. President and CEO Chris Crane provides some insight into what drives Fertel.
“The most remarkable thing about Marv is his passion to drive the industry forward, maintaining the highest levels of safety while delivering improved efficiency. The passion always comes through,” Crane says. He adds that Fertel “is always, consistently, a true gentleman in all his business and personal dealings. I very much admire that.”
Another word that springs to mind when describing Fertel is “credibility—and credibility is an essential linchpin to public confidence in nuclear energy,” Daniel Poneman, president and CEO of Centrus Energy, says.
“He is the embodiment of integrity. He will gladly tell you the good news, but he never fails to tell you the bad news. So everyone knows when dealing with Marv that you are hearing views that are thoughtful, informed and straight-shooting,” Poneman says.
In his long career, Fertel has seen many changes in the nuclear energy industry. In 1990, when he joined one of NEI’s predecessor organizations, the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness, the average capacity factor of U.S. nuclear power plants—a measure of their reliability—was just 66 percent. None of the plants had renewed operating licenses, since there was no regulation yet to address that. A more efficient regulation for licensing new reactors, the ink on it barely dry, had yet to be tested.
Today, the picture is much different. The average capacity factor for nuclear power plants has held at or above 90 percent for each of the past 15 years. More than 80 reactors have renewed operating licenses, one new reactor came online in October, and four more are nearing completion. In the near future, one company will submit the first application for design certification of a small reactor. And in the midst of a challenging economic environment for nuclear power plants, the industry is implementing the Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative to increase the efficiency and value of its facilities.
Fertel has been in the thick of all these developments and, since becoming NEI’s CEO in 2009, he has led the charge for many of them. He made certain that the industry’s interests were well-represented when opportunities arose—for example, during restructuring of the electric utility industry in the late 1990s and the 2005 Energy Policy Act, Donald Brandt, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Pinnacle West and Arizona Public Service says. Brandt is chairman of NEI.
Brandt also cites Fertel’s leadership during tough times. “Marv has guided NEI and the industry through a number of existential crises, and it is largely owing to his unflappable personality that we have come through those crises as well as we have.”
Fertel’s candor and “forthright approach” were especially valuable after the 2011 accident at Fukushima, Poneman says. “At a time of crisis, when the confidence of the whole world in the safety of nuclear energy was deeply shaken, Marv was there, day after day, ensuring that the most accurate reporting on the events in Japan was carried out and communicated to a concerned public.”
“I don’t know anyone better to defend, promote or just generally be supportive of the business than Marv. He was very credible with all audiences. When he spoke, people listened,” says William Levis, president and chief operating officer of PSEG Power.
Poneman adds that Fertel has been a “friend, sounding board and moral support to so many people that his legacy will end up owing as much to his humanity as to his talent and industrywide contributions.”
Reflecting on his career, Fertel believes the industry’s biggest change is the improvement in reactor performance and reliability, driven by improved management techniques and processes. In parallel with these gains, he says, “safety culture advances have been significant” as the industry learned from operating experience in the United States and abroad.
While he leaves NEI in very good hands—Maria Korsnick, former chief nuclear officer for Constellation Energy, assumes the president and CEO position on Jan. 1, 2017—he is also leaving that familiar candy dish for her to fill.