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Extracting efficiency
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
May is a month when we pause—briefly—to recognize something that too often goes unsaid: the extraordinary performance of the existing U.S. nuclear fleet. Capacity factors remain above 90 percent (with a median of 91.29 for the three-year period 2023–2025—see Nuclear News, May 2026, p. 24), an impressive figure delivered at a scale unmatched anywhere else on the globe. That level of sustained output is not an accident of design; it is a daily achievement. It reflects the discipline, professionalism, and pride of the men and women who operate and maintain these facilities, often without fanfare.
In this issue, you will also read about the important work researchers at our national laboratories are doing to extract even greater efficiency from the plants we already have. That effort deserves more attention, because it points to a fundamental truth: the fastest, most reliable way to expand nuclear generation in the United States is not solely through new builds—it is by maximizing the assets already on the grid.
E. James (Jim) Reinsch has had a distinguished, 40-year career in the field of nuclear power project management. He joined the American Nuclear Society (ANS) in 2002 and three years later he was elected president of the Society. Since he joined ANS, he has been part of the Education, Training and Workforce Development and Operations and Power Divisions.
He served as senior vice president and Partner of Bechtel Group, and he was the president of Bechtel Nuclear. He directed the company’s global nuclear operations for eight years, presiding over Bechtel Canada, he managed large regions in the U.S. and southwest Asia.
He is member of several international nuclear energy organizations, including the International Nuclear Academy, an honor society of the engineering and scientific community that fosters development and utilization of the peaceful application of nuclear energy in a safe and economic manner.
Reinsch serves on many Board of Directors including Ontario Power Generation Inc., NEI (he is also a member of their Executive Committee), Duke Energy Corporation, Frederick Memorial Hospital, and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. He is on the Board of Trustees for Hood College in Maryland.
Additionally, he is involved with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation Committee on Nuclear Power. Reinsch is a member of Rotary International.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Relations and Production from the University of Maryland.
Read Nuclear News from July 2005 for more on Jim.
