Speakers

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Michael Durr

Michael Durr

Director, Advanced Nuclear Engineering , TVA New Nuclear Program

39 years in commercial nuclear power experience
17 years at TVA, started in 2009 at Browns Ferry, went to the Chattanooga Corporate oﬀice in 2012 and was the Fleet Design Engineering Director before I went to the New Nuclear Program.
In 1987 I started my career out of college at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in New York working for the New York Power Authority
Obtained a Senior Reactor Operator Certiﬁcation when I was at Indian Point
In 1995 I went to James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant in upstate New York working for Entergy before coming to TVA in 2009.
I have worked in all areas of Engineering associated with nuclear power, including design,systems, and components
Degreed Electrical Engineer with a Professoinal Engineering License from New York
Born, raised and lived in New York until moving to Alabama in 2009 to work for TVA, I am married for 37 years and have 2 kids and 2 grandchildren

Sessions

20-Jan-2026

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

302B

Project Phoenix: The Return of Decommissioned Reactors
20-Jan-2026

03:15 PM – 04:15 PM

302B

Is the BWRX-300 the Turning Point for SMRs? Industry Perspectives on the Path Ahead

"This is my first year at POWERGEN and so far I can just say, wow, this event is huge. I never thought I would have access to so many different vendors and so many different experts in the energy industry by coming to an event like this."

Caitlyn Watkins

Cleco

"It's my first time at POWERGEN. I'm having a great time walking around and seeing all of the booths in the exhibit hall and everything that everybody's trying to sell me, as well as a lot of very useful technical presentations. My particular favorite has been the carbon capture track, but they've all been good that I've attended so far."

Janelle Dana

Entergy

"Hi, I’m Chad Lemoine with Entergy... here as a corrective actions program specialist. It’s my first time at POWERGEN, so it’s been great for networking. I’ve met personnel at our plants I’d only talked to on the phone, so that face-to-face interaction has been really good. I’ve enjoyed meeting new people, learning about what they do, and how it interacts with my work... Overall, it's been a really good time."

Chad Lemoine

Entergy

"I think my favorite part of the conference has been essentially the Smarter Power Plant Track. There's been a lot of good [takeaways] for us because our plans are quite old, so there's a lot of manual readings and things, but me being the IT generation, I think it could be done better. So having a lot of these [takeaways] from companies who have [accomplished what] we are wanting to do is great. It's been really eye opening networking with all of the exhibitors [as well]. It's my first time here, but I don’t think it's going to be my last."

Jonathan Hellborg

Svensk Kraftreserv

“Nel’s chosen to sponsor and be part of POWERGEN because it's one of the more important shows in the hydrogen market, also the power generation market in general. Over the years, we've seen a shift in POWERGEN from more traditional power generation to a greater presence with renewables, and now with hydrogen, as an energy source, moving into the future.”

Chris Van Name

Nel Hydrogen

“We're here today at the conference because I believe this is the largest power generation conference there is in the country. One, it's a way to get our name out and that's why we're sponsoring it. But two, it's also a great way to connect with other groups, other organizations and, you know, meet the people who are actually important for our own progression as a company.”

James Walker

Nano Nuclear Energy, Inc

“We come to POWERGEN every year because it's a great show you can make great contacts in the renewable space, great contacts in the data center space, great contacts in the commercial industrial space. So that's why we're here every year. You should be here too.”

David D’Escoto

Maddox Industrial Transformer