Entergy's Leonard on New Nuclear: "I want to be at the head of that line."

In an interview with New York Times reporter Barnaby Feder, Entergy's Wayne Leonard had this to say bout his company's future with nuclear energy:

Q. Let's talk about nuclear energy, the part of Entergy that has been obscured by the blow to its regulated power distribution companies. You're the second biggest operator of nuclear plants around the country. What Entergy's nuclear future?

A. A big portion of our earnings and growth is occurring with nuclear power plants in the Northeast and South that people questioned when we bought them. Every three or four months we are saving our customers half a billion dollars.

Our strategy has been acquiring plants that are already built and fixing them up. Two years ago, I said I'm not enthusiastic at all about being the first to build a new plant. My mind's changed on that. I want to be at the head of the line. More and more environmentalists are recognizing that the issues of global warming are real and they are saying as much as they hate to say it the only answer is nuclear. We're going to encourage people in the renewable niche and we'll probably by power from them but you've got to think about what you do best. In our case, it's nuclear. We have to be flawless in that.

For more on Entergy Nuclear, click here.

UPDATE: The bulk of Leonard's interview had to do with Entergy's response to Hurricane Katrina, something that was the subject of a conference call yesterday sponsored by the Association of Energy Services Professionals. My colleague Jarret Adams listened in on the call, and shared this report.

Summary of AESP Luncheon on Entergy Response to Hurricane Katrina

This conference call was led by Art Wiese, v.p., corp. comm., at Entergy and Jim Raleigh, director of support services. They detailed Entergy’s preparation for Hurricane Katrina and the response following the storm during a Sept. 14 conference call.

They noted at its highest level, some 1.1 million had lost power. As of Sept. 14, Entergy had restored power to 800,000 LA residents and all MS residents.

Raleigh said, “Preparation was key to the company’s response” He credited:
• Proven storm plan
• Knowledgeable, experienced work force
• Innovative storm tools, like Inside Entergy Stormnet (Extranet application)

The company evacuated 1,900 employees. They ordered the evacuation on Fri, Aug. 26, before the storm hit. Some went to Jackson, some to Baton Rouge and some went with crews, etc. They point to the fact they “spent a lot of time” communicating the emergency plan to employees and the general risk of hurricanes and flooding. There was not one death among Entergy employees.Wiese described the communications elements to the response:

Entergy employed communications vehicles, including: like Inside Entergy Stormnet, Inside Entergy (daily print/fax edition and on web), employee infoline

External comm.: www.entergy.com, commercials (print, radio, TV), press releases, media interviews, visits to the “front”, Entergyradio.com, The Power of Hope fund (ads)

Key external comm. strategies:
• Good restoration and good communication go hand in hand
• Whole company should speak with one voice
• Select key messages of the day and emphasize and re-emphasize them
• Reward for opening up to the media was greater than the risk
• Entergy asked for advice from other power companies: Duke, Progress, PPL
• Also had help from EEI, NEI

Key messages to employees (internal comm.):
• Everyone still has a job, benefits, paycheck, etc.
• Everyone will be provided living quarters if needed
• Everyone will be provided financial assistance if needed
• No employee will be put in harm’s way
• We will find all employees
• Established The Power of Hope Fund

An amazing performance that everyone at Entergy can be proud of. Bravo.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy Environment Energy Hurricane Katrina Emergency Preparedness Entergy