Donald Schneider will step down as president of bankrupt nuclear power provider FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) effective Saturday, but he will stay on as executive chairman until his retirement on May 1.
Schneider’s voluntary retirement package will include a lump-sum payment of slightly over $1 million, along with company health insurance for 18 months and a $1,500 monthly “pension enhancement” until he is 65, according to an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Schneider has been FES president since 2009 and has been with Akron, Ohio-based parent company FirstEnergy Corp. since 1982. John Judge, currently vice president for corporate risk and chief risk officer at FirstEnergy Corp., will take over as FES president and CEO, according to a company announcement Thursday.
The change at the top is part of FirstEnergy Solutions’ overall restructuring after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March. That same month, the company announced plans to close three nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania by 2021.
Don Moul is resigning from his dual role of president of FES Generation Cos. and chief nuclear officer, a position he has held for a year. Paul Harden, now senior vice president and chief operating officer at FES subsidiary FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., will take over as chief nuclear officer.
The company is also creating and filling the positions of executive vice president for retail sales and commercial operations and executive vice president for corporate development.
“The new leadership team brings a unique mix of new ideas and institutional knowledge to the business and the launch of the newly reorganized company,” Schneider said in the release. “Their experience, together with their many notable accomplishments, gives FES a remarkable leadership team to execute the final stages of the restructuring process and build value for all stakeholders going forward.”
FirstEnergy Solutions tentatively anticipates emerging from bankruptcy protection in September or October, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported in January. It is separating from its parent as part of the restructuring.
Citing low energy prices and the other market challenges that have troubled the nuclear power industry for years, FirstEnergy Solutions said in March it would close four reactors at its three nuclear plants: the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station at Oak Harbor, Ohio, in May 2020; the Perry Nuclear Power Plant at Perry, Ohio, in May 2021; and the two reactors at the Beaver Valley Power Station near Pittsburgh in May and October 2021.
The company has sought legislative and other assistance from state and federal governments, so far without results.
“FES will continue operating its nuclear and fossil generation until their previously announced deactivation dates, with a possibility of running the units for an extended period if the Company obtains sufficient legislative support and meaningful market reforms,” the company said Thursday.
The three-person panel last month indicated it would issue its decision in March. But that was before oral arguments on the petitions and another round of filings regarding new or updated technical contentions on the license application.
At the oral arguments last month in Albuquerque, ASLB Chairman Paul Ryerson said he anticipated a decision by early April.
The “Board advises the parties that it anticipates issuing its decision on standing and contention admissibility, including its decision on all pending motions, within forty-five days of the completion of briefing all pending motions to file new or amended contentions,” Ryerson wrote in a notice Tuesday.
There was no immediate word on when the 45-day clock would start.
Holtec International in March 2017 filed its application for a 40-year license to build and operate an interim storage facility that could eventually hold 173,000 metric tons of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors around the nation. The Camden, N.J.-based energy technology company hopes for a ruling from the NRC by July 2020.
The agency is currently conducting its technical review of the application, which includes environmental, safety, and security issues.
Organizations that have filed for intervention and hearings on the license application: are the Sierra Club; Beyond Nuclear; the Alliance for Environmental Strategies; NAC International; regional energy concerns Fasken Land and Minerals and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners; and a coalition of advocacy groups headed by Don’t Waste Michigan. Four jurisdictions in southeastern New Mexico, which are partnering with Holtec on the project as the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, have also petitioned to participate as local interested government bodies.
Each petitioner must demonstrate they have standing to intervene in the matter and have presented reasonable technical contentions for consideration in licensing. If approved to intervene, they could argue their allowed contentions in writing and possible oral arguments. If denied by the ASLB, the petitioners could appeal to the full Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Ryerson and two other NRC administrative judges are also the members of a separate Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that will rule on petitions to intervene in a license application from Waste Control Specialists and Orano for a storage facility in West Texas. Many of the same groups seeking a place in the Holtec proceeding are also petitioning for intervention in this licensing.
In the absence of a permanent repository, the sites potentially could provide the means for the Department of Energy to meet its congressional mandate to remove spent nuclear fuel from power plant sites.
A serving member of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Wednesday was formally confirmed by the state Senate.
Emily Lindley was appointed to the position by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in August 2018.
“I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to serve the state of Texas as a commissioner of the TCEQ, and am honored by Governor Abbott’s appointment and the Senate’s confirmation. I look forward to collaboratively working with agency staff and relevant stakeholders to further the mission of this agency,” Lindley said in a prepared statement.
The commission regulates management of radioactive waste in the state, including Waste Control Specialists’ disposal facility in West Texas.
While the agency has up to three commissioners, Lindley and Chairman Jon Niermann are the only current members.
Lindley’s term would formally end on Aug. 31, 2023, but she would stay on until reappointed or replaced. Commission members are allowed to serve two six-year terms.
Prior to joining the commission last year, Lindley had served as chief of staff to Anne Idsal, administrator for Environmental Protection Agency Region 6. Before that, she held several roles during a decade at TCEQ, including as special assistant to Deputy Executive Director Stephanie Bergeron Perdue.
