Executive VP & COO, Entergy
'The Resurgence of Nuclear as a Utility Decarbonization Pathway' with Kimberly Cook-Nelson, Entergy
Episode #127: 'The Resurgence of Nuclear as a Utility Decarbonization Pathway' with Kimberly Cook-Nelson, Chief Nuclear ...
About Kimberly Cook-nelson
In a September 2023 podcast appearance, Kimberly Cook-Nelson, Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer at Entergy, discussed the role of nuclear energy in utility decarbonization. She described nuclear power as "clean, carbon-free, and available 24/7/365 days a year," and said it is "paramount alongside solar, wind, and hydro for achieving our commitment to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050." Cook-Nelson cited a Bank of America Global Research report stating that nuclear is "one of the least expensive sources of energy with the highest energy return on investment." She also noted that public support for nuclear power in the U.S. had reached its highest level since 2012, with 85 percent of adults supporting its use. Cook-Nelson emphasized the industry's safety record, stating that the nuclear industry is "heavily regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with no deaths from routine operation." She said it is the responsibility of nuclear professionals to understand the history of incidents like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Reflecting on her role as one of the few female Chief Nuclear Officers, Cook-Nelson said the path "has not been an easy road, but it has been very rewarding," and expressed hope to inspire more young women to enter the field. She also highlighted community engagement efforts by Entergy employees, including support following EF4 tornadoes in the company's service territory.
Transcript (38 segments)
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Jason Price0:00
Welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives podcast, the show that brings leading minds from the energy industry to discuss the challenges and trends that are transforming and modernizing our energy system. And a quick thank you to West Monroe, our sponsor of today's show. Now let's talk energy.
I'm Jason Price, Energy Central podcast host and director with West Monroe, coming to you from New York City. And with me, as always, from Orlando, Florida, is Energy Central producer and community manager Matt Chester. Matt, we're diving back into the nuclear sector today, an energy source that our listeners know fully well is being thrust more into the spotlight recently as utilities try to decarbonize while maintaining grid reliability, a pair of goals that nuclear energy is pretty uniquely positioned to accomplish in today's energy landscape. But before we dive in, do you want to give our audience some suggestions of other podcast episodes that dove into the world of nuclear energy?
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Matt Chester1:10
I'd be happy to, Jason. And actually, if you go to the SoundCloud page for the Power Perspectives podcast, you'll see that we've built a handful of playlists focused on different topic areas and themes that come up time and again in our expert interviews. One of those playlists is entitled 'Going Nuclear with the Power Perspectives Podcast,' and there you'll find some great episodes that lead into the topics we'll discuss today. We've had a conversation with Idaho National Labs on the combination of nuclear microgrids, a discussion about DOE's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear, an overview of small modular reactors from Ontario Power Generation, and several more. And we're happy to add today's to the list as well.
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Jason Price1:49
That's great, Matt, thank you. And to add to the list, we already know we'll have an enlightening discussion since we have the privilege of welcoming today's conversation, the Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer of Entergy, Kimberly Cook-Nelson. Kimberly is here to walk us through the top goals, trends, and areas of focus from Entergy's nuclear program in 2023 and beyond. So let's bring her in and start the conversation. Kimberly Cook-Nelson, welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives podcast.
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson2:17
Thank you, Jason. I really appreciate it. I appreciate all of you for having me here today. I'm really excited to be here and discuss a key passion of mine, which is clean, generating nuclear power.
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Jason Price2:28
Fantastic, and we're thrilled to have you, Kimberly. We really appreciate it. We're excited to dive into the latest and greatest in the nuclear sector, and it really does feel like in the U.S., the nuclear sector is having a bit of a renaissance right now, at least when it comes to public support and potential new opportunities. So can you talk to our viewers about why this might be happening at this moment and what that means for Entergy specifically?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson2:50
Yes, public support and nuclear's popularity does continue to grow. As a country looks to decarbonize, in fact, the recent Gallup survey found that 85% of U.S. adults support the use of nuclear power, its highest level of public support since 2012. With nuclear power being clean, carbon-free, and available 24/7, 365 days a year, there is an understanding that nuclear, with solar and wind and hydro, is paramount. And that's really important for our goals. We made a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and an interim commitment to have 50% of our power generation rate come from clean, carbon-free energy sources like nuclear by 2030. So we also plan to retire all of our coal power generating plants by the end of 2030. So really, keeping nuclear in our energy mix makes those retirements possible. In addition, public support for nuclear will help us in the regulatory arena when we seek to re-license our current nuclear facilities in our fleet.
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Jason Price4:01
That's great. So I'd like to learn more, if you don't mind digging in a bit further into the broader nuclear landscape and more specifically the broader plans of the utility roadmap when it comes to addressing the myriad of challenges that I'm sure you're facing, as all utilities are. That's price volatility, supply chain shortages, and the need to increase sustainability while maintaining reliability in an affordable manner. So talk to us: how does nuclear fit in with the rest of the grid mix at Entergy, and what are the expected trends of that mix moving forward?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson4:32
As a power provider for over three million customers in our four southern states, Entergy does play a critical role in developing the clean energy solutions essential to lowering greenhouse gas emissions across the economy without compromising affordability or service reliability. Nuclear energy is an affordable source of baseload power and it's carbon-free, so it's essential to meeting our obligation now and far into the future. I was reading a Bank of America Global Research report just this weekend that suggested that nuclear is one of the least expensive sources of energy with the highest energy return on investment. Currently, nuclear energy makes up 27% of our grid mix, while renewable power like solar makes up about 2%. So our mix is definitely changing as we work toward our net-zero goal with Entergy, and we're investing heavily right now in solar. But when solar and nuclear energy are a balanced mix, that will get us to the carbon-free future that we are all looking for.
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Jason Price5:36
Sure. But you know, like Matt said, we've had a number of thought leaders talk about nuclear on the podcast in the past, and the topic always comes up about the public perception, which I'm sure you touch upon in your role. So share with us, as there remains a strong fear in some corners, whether it's in documentaries and publications and such about nuclear concerns and nuclear disasters, and how it raises the anxieties of people in the public. What do you see as the role that you and your team play in educating and clearing up what I'm sure you would define as, for the most part, misconceptions in the public?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson6:10
Yes, definitely. And we're very thankful that public perception is changing in favor of the nuclear industry. The nuclear energy industry is one of the safest industries in the country. It's heavily regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Nuclear has had no deaths from routine operation and is orders of magnitude safer than other forms of energy production. But really, it's the responsibility of every nuclear professional to know the facts about the industry's history and be able to communicate those facts when questions and concerns come up. Knowing what happened at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, and why is really a part of the nuclear professional's training. It's imperative that we understand what happened and why, both to prevent future occurrences and to underscore why safety is first and foremost in everything we do. But the bottom line message really is that nuclear is safe, nuclear is secure, and we have the best of the best operating at our nuclear plants. Educating our young people about our industry and the opportunities within it is also essential. Our employees are terrific about volunteering to take school groups on plant tours, teach them about nuclear generation, career opportunities, plant safety, and so much more. And we also visit schools, we attend STEM fairs, and participate in other community activities where our folks are ambassadors and can really tell our nuclear story. And it's very important to us.
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Jason Price7:44
That's great. I'd love to take a tour of a nuclear plant. That sounds really great.
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson7:50
Yeah, thank you.
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Jason Price7:52
I understand you took over about a year ago as Chief Nuclear Officer. Can you share with us what exactly the role entails? And certainly, I'd also love you to reflect, if you can, about what it means to be one of the few female CNOs of the industry and what that means to you.
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson8:06
Yeah, well, you know, first and foremost, my job is to represent the more than 3,800 employees internally that we have at Entergy and all of the folks across our industry and with our other stakeholders. My team makes sure that we operate our plants safely, securely, and reliably. And personally, I really like going out, visiting the plants, talking to our folks, listening to their ideas, just really get to know them better, because all of our success as a company and fleet really belongs to them. I just get to talk about them and their efforts. And I feel very fortunate to be in this job and working with the great people that I get to work with, not only because of the cool things that I've got to do over the years operating nuclear power plants, but I really do work with great people every day. And as I mentioned, I am one of the few female leads in our industry. It's not been an easy road, but it has been very, very rewarding. And my hope is that other young ladies can see me sitting here and know that if I can do it, they can do it too. And I hope that I can be an impetus to get more ladies into our field and really climbing this ladder.
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Jason Price9:19
It's interesting. I'd like to talk a little bit more about the talent development that you're describing. I mean, certainly since the build of nuclear has either been on a standstill or very slow growth, it must be a bit challenging to find talent to help build a pipeline of the future nuclear workforce. So share with us what that entails for you and how do you measure success in those pursuits?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson9:42
So it starts with getting into the schools. We have teams that do STEM awareness, as I mentioned, in elementary schools, middle schools. We've got children's museums, we work with Girl Scouts, and so much more. And we also have partnerships with key colleges and universities in the area where we're located to also support recruitment and also support those schools and their success. So it starts with getting in the schools and getting a pipeline going. And then for me, the next is retention. The key focus there is on ensuring that we have a positive work environment. Our big focus right now in nuclear and Entergy is around employee engagement and employee empowerment. We want to make sure that our folks feel valued and heard every day in everything that they're doing, and that they have a strong sense of purpose. And in the end, we really desire to be that employer of choice. So we monitor our retention rates constantly, comparing against our peers, making adjustments based on surveys and interviews, and then of course getting out and acting on that feedback. So our focus really is on all three of those areas: starting with how we get the pipeline, how we make sure that we can retain folks, and then making sure that we learn from the folks that we don't.
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Jason Price10:56
Yeah, that's great. It sounds like your role crosses both externally facing as it is internally facing. So on that note, what about the pursuit of community engagement in general, especially in the energy service area? How are you looking to transform the role Entergy plays in engaging with those communities, both supporters and skeptics around nuclear energy?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson11:22
That focus has been there since the day I stepped in the door over 27 years ago. Our communities are one of our key stakeholders, along with customers, employees, and our owners being the others. So our folks not only work in the communities in which the plants are and our nuclear headquarters are located, but they also live there as well. And they're dedicated to improving the lives of our customers and the communities that we live in. A key example: parts of our service territory recently were hit by an EF4 tornado, and we had an outpouring of on-the-ground support, donations, food, money from our employees. And we even had some of our folks drive four hours from Russellville, Arkansas to Rolling Fork, Mississippi to help the victims of the tornadoes, coming with companies and whatever we could do to help. Our employees are incredibly generous and very caring. We also have students and teachers visiting our plants where they can learn about clean, carbon-free nuclear energy and have the chance to meet many of our nuclear professionals. Once they come to our plants and meet our folks, they have knowledge about the facts and the merits of nuclear energy. But aside from responding to those in need, our employees are also very involved in telling the nuclear story in our community and school events through school tours, as I've mentioned. And these not only bring value to our communities but are also critical in building a local pipeline of future workers, which I'm very focused on.
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Jason Price12:54
If I may, here's a metrics-driven question: how many people typically on a 24-hour cycle work at a nuclear power plant at any time?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson13:03
On a 24-hour cycle, how many people do I have at each one of my plants on a daily basis? It depends on the plant. 800 to 1,200 folks. Some of our plants have one reactor, some have two, so it varies from there.
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Jason Price13:24
Gotcha. Oh, yeah, lots of big stuff. Well, this is great, Kimberly. This is really interesting to get an inside look at the nuclear space, particularly at a utility. So at this point, I would like to pivot for a moment to what we call our Lightning Round, which gives us an opportunity to learn more about Kimberly Cook-Nelson the person rather than the professional. And this is where we ask you five questions. You are to keep the response to one word or phrase. So, Kimberly, are you ready?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson13:51
Yes.
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Jason Price13:52
All right. What's your dream vacation?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson13:58
Italy.
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Jason Price14:00
Okay. Just want to share a meal with?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson14:03
I believe you're right.
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Jason Price14:04
And what would you have requested to be served at that meal?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson14:13
Pasta.
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Jason Price14:14
Who have been your role models?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson14:15
Well, certainly my parents, and probably too many mentors that I could name, but we'll go with my parents.
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Jason Price14:21
What are you most driven by?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson14:23
Myself.
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Jason Price14:27
Very nice. Well, we're going to give you the last word. So thank you again for your time. What are some closing thoughts or messages you'd like to make sure that our audience walks away with?
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson14:39
Well, certainly again, I appreciate you having me. This has been fun and different. And to all listening, if you have not read up on nuclear power lately, I encourage all of you to take some time. Our future certainly is bright, and you're going to see more of us soon.
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Jason Price14:56
Well stated. So, Kimberly, we want to thank you for joining us today and for advancing the conversation around nuclear energy in 2023. As the community continues discussing this topic, we encourage them to do so in the comments for this podcast post, and hopefully you'll be able to chime in on Energy Central as that happens. So until then, thanks for sharing your insight with us on today's episode of the podcast.
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Kimberly Cook-Nelson15:18
Thank you again for having me, and thanks everyone who took the time to listen.
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Jason Price15:22
Absolutely. And we also want to give a shout-out of thanks to the podcast sponsors that made today's episode possible. Thanks to West Monroe. West Monroe works with the nation's largest electric, gas, and water utilities in their telecommunication, grid modernization, and digital and workforce transformations. West Monroe brings a multi-disciplinary team that blends utility operations and technology expertise to address modernizing aging infrastructure, advisory on transportation electrification, ADMS deployments, data analytics, and cyber security. And once again, I'm your host, Jason Price. Plug in and stay fully charged in the discussion by hopping into the community at energycentral.com, and we'll see you next time at the Energy Central Power Perspectives podcast.