Page 114 - Nuclear Plant Journal November-December 2012
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114
Product & Service Directory–2013
Chris Schwarz
Chris Schwarz was named site vice
president of Arkansas Nuclear One
in December 2010. Before coming to
ANO, Schwarz was site vice president
of Palisades Power Plant in Covert,
Michigan from February 2007 until
December 2010.
Schwarz had served
as Vice President of
Operations Support
for Entergy Nuclear
Northeast from June
2005 until February
2007. In this role,
he was responsible
for support
organizations that
included licensing,
information
technology,
corporate quality
assurance, materials,
purchasing and
contracts, planning,
scheduling and
outages and training.
Before joining Entergy, Schwarz
worked at Millstone Station as Station
Director of Operations and held various
other leadership positions in work
management, operations and training.
Prior to Millstone, he worked for the
Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
and provided leadership as shift
manager at the Peach Bottom Atomic
Power Station.
Serving in the United States Navy as
Engineering Watch Supervisor, U.S.S.
Lafayette SSBN 616, Schwarz received a
Navy Achievement Medal for leadership
and professional achievement.
Schwarz received his bachelor’s degree
in engineering from Widener University
in Philadelphia, Penn. He held a senior
reactor operator license earned at
Peach Bottom and two certifications;
NRC SRO Certification and GE SRO
Certification, BWR 6, Perry Simulator.
embedded in the various sheet sizes so as
to “snap-and-shield” around pipes or to
other surfaces such as bridge flooring. It
is more effective than lead, can be easily
cut in the field to fit as needed and even
comes as tungsten duct tape for small,
varying needs. Coupled with this innova-
tion was the creation of a tungsten vest
that shields the worker (rather than just
shielding the source) for the first time ever
in the industry with Nuclear Regulatory
Commission approvals.
For this innovationANOalso received
the American Nuclear Society 2011
Meritorious Performance in Operations
Award, the Top Industry Practice Award
given by the Nuclear Energy Institute and
recognition as a 2011 FINALIST in the
Platts Global Energy Awards.
In 2012 ANO also was honored by
NEI with a Top Industry Practice award
in plant support for “Angel Wings,” a
portable, lightweight structure that re-
places costly scaffolding for welding and
other jobs.
In total, ANO has won eight Top In-
dustry Practice awards since 1999 when
NEI recognizedANOwith the “Best of the
Best” award that year for “Risk-Informed
In-Service Inspection Program for Piping
Welds.”
Operational Safety and
Continuous Improve-
ment
The ANO mission is to be an in-
dustry leader in all areas of safety and
plant performance with a commitment
to continuous improvement, a hallmark
of their employees. ANO is on a journey
to take the plant to new levels of perfor-
mance by concentrating efforts on areas
they have identified as essential to their
success signified by the acronym HERO:
Human performance, Equipment reli-
ability, Refuelingoutageperformance and
Organizational effectiveness.
“A special and unique industry
requires special and unique people to
operate it safely and successfully. This
is how I would describe our workforce
at Arkansas Nuclear One,” said site Vice
President Chris Schwarz. “Our focus is
on developingANO leaders by partnering
with theLeadershipDevelopment Institute
at Eckerd College coupled with perfor-
mancemanagement training to strengthen
our skills, to improve operational focus
and, of course, to re-
sult in overall plant
performance excel-
lence. These initia-
tives are closing the
gaps from ‘good to
great’for bothof our
units.”
The Occupa-
tional Safety and
Health Administra-
tion acknowledge
Arkansas Nuclear
One as a 15-year
participant at the
Star level in the
Voluntary Protec-
tion Program, VPP
which is the most
prestigious work-
place safety and health recognition
program in the United States. In 1996,
Arkansas Nuclear One joined the VPP at
the Star level, becoming the first nuclear
site to be accepted into the program.
ANO since Fukushima
Over thepast year, Entergyhas takena
leading role in assisting the understanding
and response to the events at Fukushima
at an industry level. In addition to sharing
our technical expertise with the industry
to compile and review safety capabilities
of certain U.S. plant designs, all Entergy
plants – including Arkansas Nuclear One
– have undergone extensive walk-downs
and procedure reviews that validate our
ability to respond during a disaster.
To further strengthen their emergency
capabilities, all EntergyNuclear plants are
orderingnewequipment in2012, including
additional diesel driven pumps, portable
diesel generator sets, portable ventilation
equipment, communications tools and
other equipment.
Contact: DonnaGregory, telephone:
An Industry...
