Nuclear Energy Institute
Encyclopedia
Synopsis
According to its website, the NEI "develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry. NEI then serves as a unified industry voice before the U.S. Congress, executive branch agencies and federal regulators, as well as international organizations and venues. NEI also provides a forum to resolve technical and business issues for the industry. Finally, NEI provides accurate and timely information on the nuclear industry to members, policymakers, the news media and the public." In practice, this takes the form of representing the nuclear industry's interests before Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
, as well as serving as an industry think tank in order to influence public policy.
The nuclear energy industry that NEI represents and serves includes: Commercial electricity generation; Nuclear medicine including diagnostics and therapy; Food processing and agricultural applications; Industrial and manufacturing applications; Uranium mining and processing; Nuclear fuel and radioactive materials manufacturing; Transportation of radioactive materials; and Nuclear waste management
NEI is governed by a 47-member board of directors. The board includes representatives from the nation's 27 nuclear utilities, plant designers, architect/engineering firms and fuel cycle companies. Eighteen members of the board serve on the executive committee, which is responsible for NEI's business and policy affairs.
History
The Institute was founded in 1994 from the merger of several nuclear energy industry organizations, the oldest of which was created in 1953. Specifically, in 1994, NEI was formed from the merger of the Nuclear Utility Management and Resources Council (NUMARC), which addressed generic regulatory and technical issues; the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness (USCEA), which conducted a national communications program; the American Nuclear Energy Council (ANEC), which conducted government affairs; and the nuclear division of the Edison Electric InstituteEdison Electric Institute
The Edison Electric Institute is the association of United States shareholder-owned electric power companies. Its members serve 95 percent of the ultimate customers in the shareholder-owned segment of the industry, and represent approximately 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry...
(EEI), which handled issues involving used nuclear fuel management, nuclear fuel supply, and the economics of nuclear energy. In 1987, NUMARC and USCEA were created through a division of the Atomic Industrial Forum
Atomic Industrial Forum
The Atomic Industrial Forum was an American industrial policy organization for the commercial development of nuclear energy.Its history dates to Autumn 1952, when it was being first organized:...
(AIF). USCEA was originally founded in 1979 as the U.S. Committee for Energy Awareness. AIF was created in 1953 to focus on the beneficial uses of nuclear energy. This was two years before the international “Atoms for Peace” conference held in Geneva in 1955, marking the dawn of the nuclear age.
Current issues
In addition to its core mission, NEI also sponsors a number of public communications efforts to build support for the industry and the expansion of nuclear energy, a number of which have come under attack from environmentalists and anti-nuclear activists. In 2006, NEI founded the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy) to help build local support around the country for new nuclear construction. The co-chairs of the coalition are GreenpeaceGreenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
co-founder Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore (environmentalist)
Patrick Moore is a former environmental activist, known as one of the early members of Greenpeace, in which he was an activist from 1971 to 1986...
and former United States Environmental Protection Agency Secretary and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Todd "Christie" Whitman is an American Republican politician and author who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, and was the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. She was New...
. As of April 2006, CASEnergy boasted 427 organizations and 454 individuals as members.
In April 2004, the Austin Chronicle reported that NEI has hired the Potomac Communications Group to ghostwrite pro-nuclear op-ed columns to be submitted to local newspapers under the name of local residents. In 2003 story in the Columbus Dispatch, NEI said that it engaged a public affairs agency to identify individuals with technical expertise in the nuclear energy industry to participate in the public debate. However, as many of these individuals have little experience in opinion writing for a non-technical audience, the agency provides assistance if requested, a common industry practice.
In 1999, Public Citizen
Public Citizen
Public Citizen is a non-profit, consumer rights advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas. Public Citizen was founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, headed for 26 years by Joan Claybrook, and is now headed by Robert Weissman.-Lobbying Efforts:Public Citizen...
filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
charging that an NEI advertising campaign overstated the environmental benefits of nuclear energy to consumers living in markets where sales of electricity had been deregulated. In a ruling the following December, the FTC rejected those claims concluding: NEI did not violate the law; agreed that the advertisements were directed to policymakers and opinion leaders in forums that principally reach those who set national policy on energy and environmental issues, and therefore did not constitute "commercial speech"; noted that in different circumstances, such as direct marketing of electricity, such advertising could be considered commercial speech and be subject to stricter substantiation.
The Institute continues to run ads with similar content, most recently debuting a new ad in September 2006 touting nuclear energy's non-emitting character and the role it can play in reducing American dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
s like oil and natural gas.
In 2008, Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
criticised NEI's public relations efforts and suggested that NEI's advertising about nuclear power was an example of greenwash
Greenwash
Greenwashing , or "green sheen", is a form of spin in which green PR or green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly.-Usage:...
ing. In the first quarter of 2008 the NEI spent $320,000 on lobbying the US federal government. Besides Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, the nuclear group lobbied the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
, departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy and others in the first three months of the year. The NEI spent $1.3 million to lobby the federal government in 2007.
Key personnel
- President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Nuclear Officer: Marvin S. Fertel
- Chairman: John W. Rowe
- Vice Chairman: W. Gary Gates
- Senior Vice President, Government Affairs: Alex Flint
- Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary: Ellen C. Ginsburg
- Vice President: Angelina S. Howard
- Vice President, Policy Development: Richard J. Myers
- Vice President, Communications: Scott Peterson
- Vice President, Regulatory Affairs: Tony Pietrangelo
- Vice President, Corporate Services and Treasurer: Phyllis M. Rich
- Senior Director and Asst. Corp. Secretary: Lisa I. Steward
- Vice President, Operations: Jay K. Thayer
- Mayo A. Shattuck IIIMayo A. Shattuck IIIMayo A. Shattuck III is a notable American businessman, and currently Chairman and CEO of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy.- Career :...
, boardmember.
See also
- Atomic Industrial ForumAtomic Industrial ForumThe Atomic Industrial Forum was an American industrial policy organization for the commercial development of nuclear energy.Its history dates to Autumn 1952, when it was being first organized:...
- Institute of Nuclear Power OperationsInstitute of Nuclear Power OperationsThe Institute of Nuclear Power Operations , headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, GA, is an organization established in 1979 by the U.S. nuclear power industry in response to recommendations by the Kemeny Commission Report, following the investigation of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 event...
- Frank L. "Skip" BowmanFrank BowmanFrank "Skip" Bowman a retired four-star Admiral, is the former Chief of Naval Personnel and former Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion. In 2006, Admiral Bowman was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire .-Education:Admiral Bowman graduated from Duke...
(Biographic details) - Institute of Nuclear Materials ManagementInstitute of Nuclear Materials ManagementThe Institute of Nuclear Materials Management is an international technical and professional organization that works to promote safe handling of nuclear material and the safe practice of nuclear materials management through publications, as well as organized presentations and meetings.The INMM's...
External links
- Nuclear Energy Institute
- NEI Nuclear Notes Blog
- Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy)
- Skip Bowman speech at LA Town Hall
- Dr. Patrick Moore at NEA 2006
- Stewart Brand at NEA 2006
- SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...
on the Nei