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Gary J. Taylor became chief executive officer of Entergy’s nuclear businesses effective April 1 2003. He joined Entergy Nuclear in March 2000 as chief operating officer of its South region based at its Jackson Miss. headquarters. Taylor brought 20 years of nuclear expertise to Entergy most of it with South Carolina Electric & Gas Company’s V. C. Summer Station.
Entergy operates five nuclear units in its retail electric service area: two units at Arkansas Nuclear One and single units at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station River Bend Station and Waterford 3. Entergy has acquired five nuclear units in the Northeast: Pilgrim Nuclear Station James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Station Vermont Yankee and two units at Indian Point Energy Center. Entergy Nuclear provides management support services for the operation of Cooper Nuclear Station and is also the nation’s largest provider of license renewal and decommissioning services in the U.S. nuclear power industry.
In July 2006 under Taylor’s guidance Entergy Nuclear announced an agreement to purchase the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan from Consumers Energy. That purchase expected to become effective in the first quarter of 2007 will bring to 11 the number of nuclear units Entergy owns.
Prior to joining Entergy Taylor had been vice president of nuclear operations at South Carolina Electric & Gas Company a subsidiary of SCANA Corporation since 1995 responsible for the overall direction of the nuclear strategic business unit.
Taylor is currently a member of the board of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Nuclear Energy Institute as well as the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Nuclear Studies. Taylor is past chair of the NEI’s Low Level Waste Management Working Group.
Taylor joined South Carolina Electric & Gas Company in 1981 as a reactor engineer. He quickly began his rise through broad and varied assignments becoming a supervisor in just over a year and then managing the nuclear computer services shift engineering and operations departments before being named general manager of plant operations in 1992. He certified as senior reactor operator and shift technical advisor at Summer.
Taylor’s previous affiliations were in nuclear engineering roles with Long Island Lighting Company at the Shoreham N.Y. plant and with Babcock & Wilcox Company at Millstone 2 in Conn. Three Mile Island Unit 2 in Pa. Davis Besse in Ohio Rancho Seco in Calif. Entergy's ANO unit 1 in Arkansas and Oconee in South Carolina.
His formal education includes a bachelor of science degree in physics from the Virginia Military Institute and a master of science in nuclear science and engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has also completed Harvard University’s Advanced Management Program and earlier the INPO Senior Nuclear Plant Management course. Taylor is a member of the National Physics Honor Society. He was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force with the rank of captain. | 