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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
2022 ANS Winter Meeting and Technology Expo Speaker
As senior vice president of nuclear operations for Duke Energy, Steven Capps provides oversight for the safe and reliable operation of the company’s nuclear plants in South Carolina. He assumed lead responsibilities for the Catawba, Oconee and Robinson plants in October 2018.
Previously, Capps served as senior vice president of nuclear corporate for Duke Energy. In this role, he had responsibility for Duke Energy’s nuclear corporate functions, including nuclear corporate engineering, nuclear major projects, corporate governance and operation support and organizational effectiveness.
Prior to that, Capps served as site vice president of the McGuire Nuclear Station for five years. He was responsible for the safe and efficient operation of McGuire, a two-unit, pressurized water-reactor nuclear generating facility in Huntersville, N.C. He directed station and facilities management, operations, maintenance, chemistry and radiation protection, engineering, nuclear and industrial safety and business operations.
Capps has more than 30 years of experience in the nuclear field. He joined the company in 1987 as a field engineer at Oconee Nuclear Station in Seneca, S.C. During his time at Oconee, Capps served in a variety of leadership roles at the plant, including senior reactor operator, shift technical advisor, and mechanical and civil engineering manager. In 2008, Capps transitioned to McGuire as the engineering manager. He later became plant manager and was named site vice president of McGuire in 2012.
The Westminster, S.C., native graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. Capps has completed the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations’ (INPO) senior nuclear plant management course and earned a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Senior Reactor Operator License for Oconee Nuclear Station.
Capps and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons and a daughter.
Duke Energy, one of the largest energy holding companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electric services to approximately 7.9 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas services to approximately 1.6 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Its commercial business operates a growing renewable energy portfolio across the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 150 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.
Last modified October 28, 2022, 9:37am MST
