NuScale Power announced today that Dale Atkinson will become the
company’s COO and CNO effective July 7th.
Atkinson comes to NuScale from Energy Northwest where he has served as
the manager of engineering, VP Tech Services, VP Nuclear Generation and
CNO, VP Operations Support, VP Employee Development/Corporate Services
and VP Energy Services and Development, among other roles, since 1989.
Atkinson has been a senior reactor operator instructor, member of the
control room staff at an operating commercial nuclear plant, spent six
years directing initial start-up testing at new commercial nuclear power
plants and served five years in the nuclear navy as an officer aboard
nuclear attack submarines. In addition he has participated in numerous
industry leadership roles including the INPO executive advisory
committee, NEI’s Nuclear Strategic Issues Advisory Committee and EPRI’s
Nuclear Power Council and has presented to the NRC Advisory Committee on
Reactor Safeguards.
Atkinson holds a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University,
a Masters in Engineering from Penn State University, an MBA from the
University of Washington and is a graduate of the advanced management
program from the Harvard Business School.
NuScale CEO John Hopkins stated: “Dale’s experience and success as a CNO
and in leadership of a nuclear utility will provide an excellent
skill-set to help lead NuScale in our next phase of development. Now
that NuScale is established as the clear leader in US SMR development,
it was important that we add additional nuclear operating depth to our
management team. Dale has played an important role in the NuScale
Customer Advisory Board and we look forward to his contributions to the
accomplishment of our aggressive goals.”
In commenting on his new role Atkinson stated: “I have long-admired the
technology, innovation and safety attributes of the design conceived by
Dr. Jose Reyes in 2000, and have had the opportunity to participate
closely for the last three years through the customer advisory board. I
am honored to have this opportunity to help NuScale advance this design
to commercialization, and to lead the talented team that has been
assembled here.”
Atkinson replaces Chris Colbert who has served as NuScale’s COO since
2011. Colbert moves to the newly-created position of Chief Strategy
Officer where his experience in project development will allow his
expertise to be focused on the development and implementation of NuScale
projects and strategic partnerships.
Atkinson will be located in NuScale’s Corvallis facility, where he and
his wife Sophia will be relocating from Richland, Washington.
About NuScale Power, LLC
NuScale Power, LLC is developing a new kind of nuclear plant; a safer,
smaller, scalable version of pressurized water reactor technology,
designed with natural safety features. Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), a
global engineering, procurement and construction company with a 60-year
history in commercial nuclear power, is the majority investor in
NuScale. As the sole winner of the second round of the U.S. Department
of Energy’s (DOE) competitively-bid, cost-sharing program to develop
nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) technology, NuScale’s design offers
the benefits of carbon-free nuclear power but takes away the issues
presented by the cost of installing large capacity. A nuclear power
plant using NuScale’s technology is comprised of individual NuScale
Power Modules™, each producing 45 megawatts of electricity with its own
factory-built combined containment vessel and reactor vessel, and its
own packaged turbine-generator set. A power plant can include as many as
12 NuScale Power Modules to produce as much as 540 megawatts. The
reactor coolant is driven by natural circulation and can be shut down
safely with no operator action, no AC or DC power, and no external
water. NuScale power plants are scalable - additional modules are added
as customer demand for electricity increases. NuScale’s technology also
is ideally suited to supply energy for district heating, desalination
and other applications. NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and
has offices in Corvallis, OR; Rockville, MD; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC;
and Chattanooga, TN. For more information visit: www.nuscalepower.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2014