Our engineering team members are essential to making sure our nuclear plants are operating in top shape. Strong leaders help us achieve our goals.

For the first time in Grand Gulf’s history, an all-woman group of managers is leading the engineering team at Grand Gulf. Tori Robinson, design and program engineering manager; Grace Settoon, strategic and systems engineering manager, and Valerie Myers, plant support engineering manager, oversee the engineering team at the station.

We asked each woman how their leadership style translates to the overall success of the team. Read what they said below.

Tori Robinson

As design and programs manager at Grand Gulf, Robinson oversees site project engineering, mechanical and civil, and electrical and Instrumentation and Control groups. Her team supports capital work for the site via modifications, scoping studies, engineering execution plans and stakeholder reviews.ĚýĚý

Robinson has been with the Entergy team for 15 years. Prior to joining Entergy, she was a design engineer with Chicago Bridge & Iron. Robinson started at Grand Gulf as a mechanical and civil design engineer. Since then, she has been the civil design engineering supervisor and the plant design engineering supervisor before moving to her current role, site central design manager. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry technology from Alcorn State University and another bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Prairie View A&M.ĚýĚý

Robinson says the number of women in engineering and amongst site leadership has grown significantly since she started her career at Grand Gulf.

“I believe that is due to other leaders valuing a diverse group of individuals to help lead and shape behaviors and performance,” she said.

Robinson advises that the next generation of nuclear professionals should focus on details and hard work will be recognized.

“This is an always learning environment,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

Robinson is a leader focused on developing future leaders.

Ěý“One of my greatest accomplishments at work is seeing my former individual contributors that I hired move up in the organization and develop into leaders.”

Robinson agrees that our people are the most valuable asset, adding that “I love working with all the talented engineers. They are some of the most creative, dedicated and hard-working individuals that I have ever worked with. They make coming to work exciting, rewarding and fun.”

Robinson defines a successful team as one that produces quality work, offers support to each other, and identifies ways to improve.

“My style is to empower my team to make decisions and to be part of the resolutions of issues,” she said.

Robinson is a member and former vice president of Grand Gulf’s WIN chapter.

“I utilize WIN and volunteering to promote the Entergy nuclear story at every opportunity,” she said.

Outside of work, Robinson enjoys spending time with her family, attending Alcorn State University football games, volunteering with the WIN group and providing community service through her membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Valerie Myers

As the plant support engineering manager, Myers oversees the following groups: plant design engineers, engineering FIN team and component maintenance support engineering. The department is the first responders in the engineering organization to plant issues.

Myers has been with the company for 24 years. She spent three years as a design engineer at Robinson Nuclear plant. After that, she worked 21 years at Indian Point in various positions including design engineer, engineering supervisor, IT manager and in decommissioning. Then Myers spent a year in project engineering at Entergy’s nuclear headquarters before joining the Grand Gulf team. She has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and a bachelor’s degree in physics from SUNY Plattsburgh.

Myers notes that the industry is changing, with more women working in the industry.

Ěý“When I first started my career, I was the only woman in the engineering department,” she said. “Today at Grand Gulf, the engineering department is 25% women, with all three of the managers being women.”

Myers seeks out “smart, talented and enthusiastic” engineers to work in nuclear, adding “It’s a great career – very challenging, but also very rewarding.”

“The energy of the engineers [at Grand Gulf] is absolutely infectious. Anyone who comes to the engineering floor can feel it,” she said.

Grace Settoon

Settoon oversees the strategic and systems mechanical group, electrical and Instrument and Controls engineering teams and programs engineering groups.

“My groups are intended to be more strategic in nature, meaning they perform system monitoring and trending, long-range planning, and advocate for issues that they detect to prevent failures from occurring,” she said.Ěý

Settoon has been with Entergy for 11 years, starting out at Waterford 3 in design engineering and then becoming the equipment reliability coordinator. Then she worked in the engineering innovation group at Entergy nuclear headquarters. Settoon moved to Grand Gulf as the recovery lead and then took over her current role as strategic and systems engineering manager.

Settoon also notes the changing landscape for women in nuclear.

“I don’t see [the industry] as a male dominated environment,” she said. “At Grand Gulf, my engineering manager peers are both female and there are seven female managers on the site lead team – and they are all amazing supportive women!”

“This is really rare in the industry, but it feels natural at Grand Gulf,” she added.

Settoon says that her favorite accomplishment during her time at Entergy is seeing individuals on her teams grow and develop at the site and take on leadership positions.

According to Settoon, the people at Grand Gulf make her job enjoyable.

“I started coming to Grand Gulf to support recovery efforts in 2020 and I was so inspired by the team here that I decided to take a full-time role at Grand Gulf and I’m so glad I did,” she said.

Settoon says her team is focused on plant reliability, detecting issues and taking action to resolve them.

“My team has exhibited extreme ownership in monitoring and trending of their systems,” she said. “The team has identified multiple low-level trends in systems that they elevated and ensured were corrected prior to failure – keeping the systems reliable for continued plant operations.”Ěý

Settoon’s team ensures safe and reliable operations by identifying low-level trends and taking action to resolve.ĚýĚý

“We are doing our job well!” she stated.Ěý

ĚýSettoon’s leadership style is to set the end goal and empower her team to achieve it.

“This is intended to give them the freedom to come up with and implement solutions with the end goal in sight and develop them in the process,” she said.

Settoon takes an active role in telling the nuclear story by participating in Women in Nuclear activities and through various volunteer efforts.

As leaders, Robinson, Myers and Grace Settoon see the value of strong teamwork.

“A successful team is one that works well together and challenges each other,” Myers said. “We look to detect equipment issues prior to them finding us. We look for solutions to tough technical issues. My style is to make sure that the team is organized and for me to be a facilitative leader.”

For more information about Entergy Nuclear, visit or follow on X/Twitter.

Entergy Nuclear owns and operates a national fl­eet of five nuclear reactors in four locations, generating enough clean, carbon-free electricity to power approximately 2.6 million homes. With 4,000 nuclear professionals located in multiple states, Entergy is more than just ­a fleet of nuclear power plants. We are a company dedicated to improving the lives of our customers, our communities and the environment in which we live and work.

By harnessing 100% clean nuclear energy, we can help our region transition to a low-carbon future while meeting the growing demands of our nation’s energy needs.

Entergy is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Our clean, carbon-free nuclear fleet is playing a critical role in meeting our climate commitment.

Nuclear energy is clean.

It protects our air quality by generating electricity without harmful pollutants like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter or mercury.

Our fleet of nuclear plants prevents the emission of nearly 23 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to the Nuclear şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Institute. That’s the same as taking approximately 5 million passenger vehicles off the road.

Nuclear energy is reliable.

Nuclear power plants are an efficient source of electricity, operating around the clock at a 92% capacity factor.

Not to mention, nuclear power plants are built to withstand the toughest of circumstances. The Waterford 3 Steam Electric Station returned to service, supplying clean power to devastated Louisiana communities, one week after a direct hit from Hurricane Ida.

Nuclear fuel is small but mighty.

One uranium fuel pellet is about the same size as a pencil eraser. That one pellet generates as much energy as one ton of coal, 149 gallons of oil or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas.

A typical nuclear power reactor in our fleet generates enough electricity to power 530,000 homes without emitting any greenhouse gases. That’s more than enough to power Jackson, Mississippi, Little Rock, Arkansas, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, combined.

Nuclear energy is critical to decarbonize the energy sector.

Entergy is taking aggressive action to combat climate change and its impacts to our region. We are committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and our nuclear portfolio is a major part of that equation. Learn more about our climate commitment here.

Learn more about our nuclear energy fleet .

Price works for Entergy nuclear fleet headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi. He has worked at Entergy for eight years.

He and his family also own property in Elkton, Maryland, which was where he found himself face to face with a stranger knocking on his front door.

“He said he was an arborist and has a keen eye for gorgeous trees and asked if he could take a look at the fabulous Norway spruce behind the house,” Price recalled.

No problem, said Price, and they went into the backyard to view the 79-foot tree whose branches spread to a 46-foot diameter at the base. Gradually, the man revealed who he was: Erik Pauzé, head gardener at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

“He said, “Ever hear of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree? What would you think of letting this one go?’” Price recalled. Pauzé explained that it would be a donation and “would be a pretty big deal,” Price recalled. After Pauzé left, the family discussed whether they wanted to provide the most famous Christmas tree in the world. Price’s wife, Julie, wasn’t sure she wanted the attention, and their son Wes and daughter Natalie were also reluctant. But after talking more as a family, the decision was made to move forward.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition is 90 years old. Workers constructing the office building complex during the Depression erected the first tree in 1931 – a 20-foot balsam fir decorated with strings of cranberries and paper garlands, made by the workers’ families. The first official tree – a 50-foot balsam fir – was raised two years later.

During World War II, the tree was unlit due to blackout regulations. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, it was decorated in hues of red, white and blue. In 2019, more than half a million people passed by the tree during the month it was on display. In 2020, due to the pandemic, there were no crowds at the tree. It is raised in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, home of the NBC television network, and stands over the center’s famous ice-skating rink and golden statue of Prometheus.

The Price family considered other factors. “The tree is 85 to 90 years old. Over 30 years on our property, we have lost at least 10 large trees due to snow, wind, ice, heavy rains and it’s pretty close to the house,” Price said.

Starting in mid-April, a team of arborists began feeding the tree biweekly with 800 gallons of nutrients. In mid-October, the team started piping water to the top of the tree every two weeks to soften the branches in preparation for wrapping and moving. The crew also placed mulch around the tree and collected fallen spruce cones, since people often want a souvenir, Price said.

Moving the 12-ton object on a massive flatbed truck 150 miles to New York is a huge undertaking. “They were putting rigging plans together at that point, planning how to get it out of the neighborhood,” he said. Even when the branches are bent toward the top and the tree is tied, it is about 14 feet in diameter.

Once the tree is raised in New York, it will be decorated with 50,000 multicolored LED lights and topped with a giant Swarovski crystal star. The lights will be turned on Dec. 1 at the end of a two-hour live entertainment show nationally televised by NBC.

When the tree comes down in early January, its branches are mulched for use in New York parks and its trunk is milled for lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity houses. The tree is scheduled to be cut on Nov. 11 and arrive in New York on Nov. 13.

Price and his family have been invited to New York for the tree raising and again for the tree lighting on Dec. 1. “It’s funny. I have never watched the tree lighting on TV and I’ve only been to Rockefeller Center once at Christmas,” Price recalled.

This time, he and his family are going as tree VIPs.

Entergy Nuclear owns, operates, supports and provides management services to a national fl­eet of seven reactors in six locations, generating enough clean, carbon-free electricity to power more than 3.5 million homes. With approximately 5,000 nuclear professionals in multiple states, Entergy is more than just ­a fleet of nuclear power plants. We are a company dedicated to becoming the premier utility, while improving the lives of our customers, our communities and the environment in which we live and work.

By harnessing 100% clean nuclear energy, we can help solve the challenge of climate change, and meet the growing demands of our nation’s energy needs.

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Why Nuclear?

Nuclear is reliable.

Nuclear plants are the most efficient source ofĚýelectricity, operating 24/7 at a 92%Ěýcapacity factor.

Ěý

Nuclear is clean.

Nuclear energy provides more than 56% of America’s carbon-free electricity.

It protects our air quality by generating electricity without harmful pollutants like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter or mercury.Ěý

Every year, nuclear-generated electricity saves our atmosphere from more than 555 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise come from fossil fuels.ĚýThat’s the same as taking 117 million passenger vehicles off the road. Ěý

One car represents 1 million vehicles.

Ěý

Nuclear is powerful.

A typical nuclear power reactor generates enough electricity to power 755,000 homes without emitting any greenhouse gases. That’s more than enough to power a city the size of Philadelphia.

Ěý

Nuclear energy is critical to decarbonize the energy sector.

Entergy is taking aggressive action to combat climate change and its impacts. We are committed to net-zero CO_2Ěýby 2050, and our nuclear portfolio is a major part of that equation. Learn more about that commitment here.

Learn more about our nuclear fleet .

Grove City is a private Christian liberal arts college founded in 1876. Bakken graduated from the college in 1982 with a degree in electrical engineering.

“Katie and I were fortunate to graduate from Grove City,” Bakken said. “Success is seeing organizations and individuals improve their performance by working together to achieve excellence. Whatever I have accomplished in my career has been because of a dedicated team of professionals committed to teamwork. The same is true of my colleagues across the Entergy Nuclear fleet. I am honored to receive this award.”

Each year, the college recognizes alumni who have had distinctive success in their field. The Jack Kennedy award was established in 1964 and has been given to more than 175 alumni.

Refueling, maintenance and testing activities will be completed by more than 1,100 full-time ANO employees and supported by Entergy employees from other nuclear plants, as well as contract workers. The influx of more than 1,300 contract workers throughout the duration of the outage, many from outside the area, and their associated spending will provide an economic boost to the local communities.

“Refuel outages are necessary to refuel the plant, allowing us to provide safe and reliable electricity in a cost-effective manner. These outages provide an economic boost for local businesses and temporary housing providers,” said John Dinelli, ANO site vice president.

Similar to fueling a vehicle, nuclear plants require refueling roughly every 18 to 24 months. Refueling outages typically are scheduled in the fall or spring when power demand is lower.

Refuels begin when plant operators take the unit offline, and the work begins. The team replaces a portion of the fuel in the reactor, shuffles current fuel rods and replaces the removed fuel with new fuel.

While the unit is offline, the team completes maintenance work and other projects to improve reliability. Every detail of a refueling outage is meticulously planned and every ANO worker plays an important role.

To ensure the safety of ANO employees and supplemental workers, COVID-19 prevention protocols will be enforced at the station. That includes mandatory mask wearing, social distancing, frequent cleaning and disinfecting of areas, as well as having employees stay home if they feel sick.

Arkansas Nuclear One, owned by Entergy Arkansas, is a dual unit pressurized water reactor located in Russellville. ANO’s Unit 2 has operated since 1980, when it connected to the grid alongside Unit 1, which became operational in 1974. Today, the plant generates enough electricity to power nearly one million households, all carbon-free. The station boasts a team of more than 1,100 highly trained and dedicated nuclear professionals, committed to their plant and community. Unit 1 will continue operating during the Unit 2 refuel.

Entergy Nuclear owns, operates, supports and provides management services to a national fleet of seven reactors in six locations, generating approximately 7,000 megawatts of zero-carbon nuclear power. With approximately 5,000 nuclear employees in multiple states, Entergy is also recognized globally as a nuclear leader.

şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř is an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and more than 13,000 employees. 

This month, Maxwell celebrated 40 years at River Bend and has held various roles with the company while impacting the local community. “When I first started working, River Bend was still in construction,” said Maxwell, who was supporting the startup and test department as an administrative specialist.ĚýĚý

“Seeing all of the buildings under construction is a memory that I will never forget,” said Maxwell. She remembers thinking how incredible it was to see something so significant constructed in her small town. “For example, the training center was the second building in St. Francisville that had an elevator.” One of her top memories of the construction phase was watching the dome placed on the plant’s reactor. “I remember my family and I standing up on the hill behind a 6-feet chain link fence watching the whole process.”

Out of all the roles she has held, the most beneficial one was her work supporting the community. “I first started working with Women in Nuclear to do my part in making a difference within the community,” said Maxwell. Over the years, Maxwell served as chapter president and vice president for WIN’s River Bend chapter.

Organizations such as North American Young Generation in Nuclear and WIN have chapters at River Bend, each playing a beneficial role in community involvement as we strive to become the premier utility. Maxwell has been heavily involved in community projects with both organizations. “Anywhere from Dress for Success to reading to local elementary schools to educate the children about benefits of carbon-free nuclear power, I have been able to participate and help organize ways the site can show its positive impact on the community.”

When asked about her favorite organization to support, she proudly said the “Capital Area United Way.” Maxwell leads the campaign for the site, coordinates the United Way auction week and organizes River Bend’s team for the United Way’s Jambalaya Jam. “Working with United Way is very rewarding. The organization provides an enormous amount of support for the community we operate in and for our neighbors.” Over the years, she has invested a tremendous amount of work with the United Way and toured several of its agencies.Ěý

Maxwell is local to the community and making a difference in her neighborhood is a top priority. “Just this year, we were able to build a playground for Rosenwald Elementary School and improve the drone program at West Feliciana High School. I believe my coworkers are making a huge impact in the community, and I am proud to be a part of the Entergy team.” She is also chair of the River Bend Employee Club, an organization that sponsors local youth teams and events. The employee club supports students in the local and surrounding parishes.Ěý

Entergy’s River Bend Station, located in St. Francisville, La., is a BWR 6 with General Electric turbines and mechanical draft cooling towers. The station began commercial operation on June 16, 1986 and will celebrate 35 years of safe and reliable operations this June. At 974 megawatts, River Bend produces approximately 10 percent of the total energy demand of Louisiana. The station boasts a team of more than 870 highly trained and dedicated nuclear professionals, committed to their plant and their communities. You can follow Entergy’s nuclear fleet on Twitter @EntergyNuclear.

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Bonnie Bryant, general manager at Indian Point şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Center, becomes the River Bend general manager, reporting to Scott.

“Kent and Bonnie are well positioned to lead the River Bend team as the site continues producing safe, reliable and carbon-free energy for the communities it serves,” Cook-Nelson said. “We thank Steve for his many years and significant contributions. We wish he and his family all the best.”

Scott joined Entergy as the River Bend general manager in 2018, responsible for leading operations, work management, production, site projects, maintenance, radiation protection and chemistry at the station. Previously, Scott served as site director at Xcel şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř’s Monticello Station, where he provided direct oversight of the organization. Before joining Xcel, Scott worked for DTE şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř’s Fermi 2 in various roles, including nuclear work management director, plant manager, nuclear organizational effectiveness director, engineering senior manager, maintenance manager and operations manager. He also worked at Exelon’s Clinton Power Station in engineering, maintenance and operations. While at Clinton, he received a license as a senior reactor operator. Scott has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Missouri – Rolla and a master’s from Illinois State University.

Bryant joined Entergy in 2019 as the senior manager of fleet operations before transitioning to the GMPO role at Indian Point in 2020. After graduating with a chemistry degree at Siena College, Bryant began her nuclear career in New Hampshire nearly 30 years ago. Before joining Entergy, she worked at Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, serving in the chemistry, operations and work management organizations. She has worked as a plant chemist, regulatory programs analyst, senior reactor operator (including shift operations and operations management), an INPO loanee and operations evaluator, and in reactor services project management and work management. Bryant also has a master’s in business administration fromĚýSouthern New Hampshire University.

Entergy Nuclear owns, operates, supports and provides management services to a national fleet of seven reactors in six locations, generating approximately 7,000 megawatts of zero-carbon nuclear power. With approximately 6,000 nuclear employees in multiple states, Entergy is also recognized globally as a provider of nuclear services to companies in the U.S. and worldwide.

That was among the unique factors that piqued his interest from the start, leading to a long and successful career in nuclear engineering with Entergy. The lifelong Arkansan, born and raised in Stuttgart, attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “In school, it was very interesting work,” he said of the nuclear side of engineering.

“From an engineering standpoint, you get to see a lot of unique equipment that you just don’t get to see anywhere else. Everything is fairly large in a nuclear power plant.”

In his decades on the job, Woerner has been through plenty of refuels. The cyclic refueling and maintenance outages – roughly every 18 to 24 months – are necessary to ensure the plant’s continued safe, secure and reliable operation. “Started work in 1979, the units had just really begun,” Woerner says of ANO’s Unit 1, which went commercial in 1974, and Unit 2, in 1980.

He was there for some of the early refueling outage days. “The first summer that I started, right out of college, I spent several months doing the piping walkdowns in our containment buildings,” he says of the detailed inspection process to spot developing problems or issues. “So, I learned a lot about the plant in my first six to eight months of work. I spent a lot of time at ANO.”

Woerner worked with what was then Arkansas Power & Light (Entergy’s predecessor) in Little Rock until 1990, when he moved to Russellville, home to ANO and county seat of Pope County. “I’ve been here ever since.” The city bordering Lake Dardanelle and the Arkansas River is home to nearly 30,000 people and the state’s only nuclear power plant.

As a two-unit site, refueling outages at ANO alternate on an 18-month schedule, with this year’s Unit 1’s refueling in the spring and Unit 2 in the fall.

Refueling outages normally last a month or more, depending on the maintenance scheduled for equipment reliability, and are typically scheduled in spring and fall, when power demand is lower. Plant operators take the unit offline and the work begins. The team replaces a third of the fuel in the reactor, shuffles current fuel rods and replaces the removed fuel with new fuel that will operate in the reactor for three cycles —Ěýuntil the next outage. Used fuel is moved to a pool for storage, then moved to a concrete dry storage cast. The team completes maintenance work and other projects to improve reliability while the unit is offline. Outage details are meticulously planned, with major projects planned years ahead.

The life of ANO units has included some major equipment change outs, such as the steam generators. From an engineer’s point of view, the chance to see the equipment apart, after just looking at drawings and calculations, is of keen interest. “You can actually see the equipment you’re working on. It gives you some insight,” Woerner said.

His role in refueling now is design engineering support to help supervisors and the engineers implement their projects for the outage. His primary role at ANO is working in design engineering, as part of the recovery effort to improve the plant’s design and licensing basis.

“During refueling outages, we have a lot of talented people —Ěýskilled craftsmen and professionals —Ěýthat come in and help us,” said Woerner. As many as 1,000 contractors may come into the area to support the process, from training and prepping for the outage, to work during the outage. That brings a big boost to the Russellville economy, in hotel and restaurant traffic and even with the travel trailers that fill area parks. “You get quite an influx,” Woerner said. “I’ve actually seen a lot of growth in the hotels here, over the last 20 to 30 years.”

Russellville’s location on the Arkansas River, close to the Ozark Mountains, provides an abundance of outdoor recreational activities that help Arkansas live up to its official logo as “The Natural State.” In addition to the good restaurants and shopping in town, there are state parks, lakes, hunting, fishing, hiking, mountain bike trails and boating. That made it a great place for Woerner and his wife, Jayne, to raise their two boys, Zach and Lance (now 31 and 28, respectively).

“I love to play golf, and it’s got some great golf courses,” Woerner said of his outdoor sport of choice for weekends and days off. He and buddies often play at the Russellville Country Club, and take special golf outings, too.

ANO pulls a lot of employees from the local pool, including operators, maintenance workers and engineers from Arkansas Tech University right there in town, as well as from a talent pool from Little Rock, and all areas of the country, Woerner said.

“Overall, ANO has had a big impact on the Russellville area economy, with the number of employees, and they’re buying houses here, they’re raising kids here, so you get a lot of economic impact from having a two-unit nuclear site right there in town.” And, with the periodic refueling, “It just helps give the economy another boost, with all the extra folks coming in.”

Entergy team members and contract partners wrapped up Unit 1’s 29^th successful refuel on May 9, bringing the plant safely online to provide clean, reliable baseload energy for the upcoming peak summer months.

Arkansas Nuclear One, owned by Entergy Arkansas, is a dual unit pressurized water reactor located in Russellville. ANO’s Unit 1 began commercial operation December 19, 1974 and produces 836 megawatts of safe and carbon-free electricity for the state. The station boasts a team of more than 950 highly trained and dedicated nuclear professionals, committed to their plant and community.

“I am proud of the site’s performance during our 21^st refueling outage,” said Steve Bibb, River Bend outage manager. “The team executed our plan successfully, allowing us to operate another cycle and provide safe, clean and reliable power to our customers.”

River Bend, located in St. Francisville, La., is a boiling water reactor with General Electric turbines and mechanical draft cooling towers with make-up water from the Mississippi River. The station began commercial operation June 16, 1986, and celebrated 34 years of safe and reliable operations in June 2020. At 974 megawatts, River Bend produces approximately 10% of the total energy demand of Louisiana. The station boasts a team of more than 870 highly trained and dedicated nuclear professionals, committed to their plant and community.

What is a refueling outage?

Just like fueling up a vehicle, nuclear plants require refueling approximately every 18 to 24 months. Refueling outages are typically scheduled in the fall or spring when power demand is lower.

Refueling outages begin when plant operators take the unit offline, and the work begins. The team replaces a third of the fuel in the reactor, shuffles current fuel rods and replaces the removed fuel with new fuel. The new fuel will operate in the reactor for three cycles. A cycle refers to the time between outages. The used fuel that is removed is considered spent fuel and moved to the spent fuel pool where it is stored and then is moved to a concrete dry storage cask.

While the unit is offline, the team completes maintenance work and other projects to improve reliability. Every detail of a refueling outage is meticulously planned and everyone plays a role. Major projects are planned years in advance, with all the work reviewed and approved long before the outage begins.

Supplemental personnel are brought in through contracting companies to complete specialty work and assist in the workload that an outage requires.

Just like regular maintenance on a vehicle, refueling outages ensure the plant runs safely and reliably, so we can continue powering life for Entergy customers.

Entergy Nuclear owns, operates, supports and provides management services to a national fleet of eight reactors in seven locations, generating approximately 8,000 megawatts of zero-carbon nuclear power. With approximately 6,000 nuclear employees in multiple states, Entergy is also recognized globally as a provider of nuclear services to companies in the U.S. and worldwide.