The Nuclear Company announced the appointment of former longtime Southern Nuclear Chairman and CEO Stephen Kuczynski to chair its Industry Working Group, a consortium that will support the company’s fleet-scale plans to build 6 gigawatts of nuclear power across America.
With nearly four decades of energy industry experience, Kuczynski oversaw the recent completion of Vogtle units 3 and 4, the first new nuclear reactors built in America in more than 30 years.
“Vogtle provided us the blueprint to build new nuclear power across America, and The Nuclear Company is committed to taking those lessons learned and building on time and on budget,” Kuczynski said. “I’m excited to chair the company’s Industry Working Group, which understands and embraces the strong need for clean baseload power in the United States.”
The Nuclear Company emerged from stealth mode in July with the mission to address America’s surging energy demand driven by AI data computing, onshoring manufacturing, and the electrification of everything. The International Energy Agency projects global electricity demand will increase nearly 30 percent by 2030 — the equivalent of adding the energy requirements of another United States and European Union combined. Despite the need for nuclear’s zero-carbon power, the biggest challenge facing the industry is that one-off nuclear projects almost always are over budget and behind schedule. The Nuclear Company’s model seeks to avoid these pitfalls.
The company’s fleet-scale model combines using proven, licensed technology and a design-once, build-many approach to lower costs and minimize delays. The model is anchored by the Industry Working Group of partners that include utilities and independent power producers, hyperscalers, nuclear technology suppliers, and private equity. By joining together, each Industry Working Group member helps mitigate risk and make nuclear power an attractive investment.
“The Nuclear Company’s Industry Working Group is what makes our approach unique and why the company has attracted so much attention since emerging from stealth mode just two months ago,” said Co-founder and Chair Patrick Maloney. “Stephen brings a lifetime of experience, knowledge and connections that will be invaluable to our work to provide abundant, clean energy across America.”
With his long career in the industry, Kuczynski has worked closely with members of the Industry Working Group, which have not yet been announced. Prior to joining Southern Nuclear, which operates 8.2 gigawatts across eight nuclear reactors, Kuczynski worked for nearly 30 years at Exelon. Early in his career, he earned a Senior Reactor Operating license and held key roles at the Dresden Nuclear Power Station outside Chicago and Byron Nuclear Power Station, also in Illinois, before taking on a role overseeing 11 nuclear reactors.