Each year, USA presents the Optimizer Award to recognize the member utility that best leveraged its membership by achieving the greatest net savings and avoided costs through proactive engagement in the various Alliance opportunities. In 2020, Talen Energy was all-in, amassing more than $9.2M in documented savings through use of USA’s programs and contracts.  This...

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During the recent Utilities Service Alliance (USA) Board of Directors Meeting, Aldo Capristo, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of STP Nuclear Operating Company, was elected USA Board Vice Chair.  Capristo has over 31 years of nuclear power experience in multiple disciplines, including several years at Xcel Energy. Mr. Capristo will serve a two-year...

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The USA Drone, Robotic, and Submersible team has been in place for several months and are making some real progress through utilization of this equipment.  Many plants have already been seeing early success and savings in not only money, but also dose reductions, time savings, and less risk to the plant and personnel.  The Team...

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USA is excited to announce our affiliation with Dr. Rodger Dean Duncan in providing access to his new CHANGE-friendly IMPLEMENTATION online course. For those of you who don’t know Rodger, he has had a long-standing relationship with USA and the U.S. nuclear industry and was the individual who introduced Crucial Conversations training to us all....

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USA’s Advanced Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics Services Project (ARM) represents a one-of-a-kind industry initiative. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, ARM helps reduce power plants’ operating costs through the application of advanced technologies. As part of the project’s three-year mission, Luminant’s Power Optimization Center (POC), recently announced the successful implementation of full-scale 24x7...

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The new Spend and Rebate Forecasting process implemented this year is in its final quarter of review and input by our Plant Forecasters.  This estimated supplier spend for Q4 will be used to calculate the year-end rebate amounts by supplier and member.  Looking back, I was cautiously optimistic as DevonWay was developing the software system...

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The Personnel Sharing Program is designed to provide many benefits for the participating plants.  The Borrowing Participants obtain experienced personnel at a reasonable and value-added cost, using other utility personnel results in a more experienced work force than those hired from commercial sources.  In most cases, this results in either less personnel required to complete...

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One definition for the saying "the devil is in the detail" is that plans or actions that seem sound must be carefully examined, because minor details can end up causing major, unforeseen problems.  When it comes to initial operations license training there are many, many details. In 2021 and 2022 the NRC and industry will...

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If you are old enough to remember baseball great Reggie Jackson, as I am, you might also recall that he liked to refer to himself as “Mr. October” based on his prolific performances in postseason. Another term used to refer to Jackson was “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” because he was the guy that...

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