The Nebraska Public Power District announces the promotion of Brian O’Grady to the position of Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer at its Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville. O’Grady is an employee of Entergy Nuclear Nebraska, which provides management support services to NPPD at the nuclear plant, located in southeast Nebraska. He previously served as Cooper Nuclear Station Site Vice President.

He will replace Stu Minahan, who has spent the past 6 and one-half years at Cooper Station in key management positions. Minahan has accepted an assignment with the Nuclear Entergy Institute, and will be living and working in Washington, D.C. He will remain an Entergy employee.
NPPD President and CEO Ron Asche commended Minahan for his leadership at Cooper Station over the past several years.
“Cooper Station is a safe and reliable part of NPPD’s generation portfolio, providing Nebraskans with a low-cost, carbon-free energy resource,” Asche said. “Stu has played an instrumental role in forging major improvements at the plant. During his tenure we have enhanced safety and regulatory performance, shortened plant outage times, and made significant investments in equipment replacements and upgrades to help ensure that the plant, which has been in operation for almost 34 years, can continue to safely and reliably operate well into the future. NPPD has appreciated his leadership, and we wish him well in his new endeavors.”
Asche added that NPPD is pleased that O’Grady is prepared to step into the top management role at the plant.
“In order to provide for a smooth leadership transition and continuity toward the achievement of plant goals, particularly in regard to the continued safe operation of Cooper Station, Brian has been at the Station for more than a year, preparing to assume the Chief Nuclear Officer position after Minahan’s planned departure. Entergy provides tremendous value to NPPD, and we look forward to continuous plant improvements under his leadership.”
O’Grady has more than 25 years experience in the commercial nuclear power industry. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., with a major in metallurgical and material engineering and a minor in economics. He joined the Cooper Nuclear Station management team in September, 2008.
Prior to joining Entergy, he served as Site Vice President at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, where he was responsible for restarting Unit 1 following 22 years of shutdown, and for the day-to-day operation of Units 2 and 3. O’Grady has also served as Vice President of Operations Support for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, following two years as General Manager, Plant Operations, at James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant. He is also a former Operations Manager of Point Beach Nuclear Plant for the Nuclear Management Company. The promotion was effective Monday, April 12.