Rising together: Collaborative project delivery for the nuclear fleet

As the nuclear industry enters one of the most significant investment periods in its history, utilities are managing unprecedented capital portfolios while simultaneously preparing for long-term operation, plant modernization, extended power uprates, digital transformation, workforce challenges, and new nuclear opportunities.

No single utility can solve these challenges alone.

For the past 30 years, Utilities Service Alliance (USA) has demonstrated that collaboration across utilities creates measurable value. What began as an organization focused on sharing operational excellence has evolved into an alliance that supports nearly every aspect of nuclear performance-from safety culture and operational excellence to maintenance, engineering, equipment reliability, supply chain, and now, to large-scale capital project execution.

USA supports member organizations-including Columbia Generating Station, Nebraska Public Power District, Vistra, Talen Energy, DTE Energy, Xcel Energy, South Texas Project, American Electric Power, Holtec's Palisades project, and Urenco USA-while partnering with leading supplier organizations to accelerate innovation across the fleet.

Across the USA membership, hundreds of major capital projects are planned over the next five years, representing billions of dollars in investment. These projects range from major equipment replacements and digital modernizations to license renewal initiatives, infrastructure improvements, and reliability enhancements.

While every nuclear power plant has unique priorities, many face remarkably similar challenges, including limited engineering and project management resources, supply chain constraints, vendor availability, escalating project costs, workforce development, and maintaining nuclear excellence while executing complex projects.

Recognizing these common challenges, USA established its Projects Peer Team to provide a structured approach for collaboration. One of the team's primary initiatives is developing an integrated long-range planning communication tool that provides visibility across the USA fleet by partnering with energy utility project management company Matrix.

Rather than viewing projects in isolation, participating utilities can better understand major capital investments across the USA fleet, procurement timing, design and construction milestones, opportunities for common sourcing strategies, resource sharing, and lessons learned from similar projects.

Participating stations provide project information for a rolling five-year planning horizon with periodic updates throughout the year. This level of transparency creates opportunities that simply do not exist when utilities plan independently. Fleet-wide visibility allows members to identify common vendors, coordinate procurement strategies, leverage collective knowledge, and better prepare for upcoming resource demands.

The Projects Peer Team extends well beyond long-range planning. Its mission includes helping establish common approaches for project governance, project controls, scheduling, reporting, benchmarking, and self-assessment while supporting participation in industry organizations such as the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations' Industry Advisory Committee for Projects.

Just as important, the team creates opportunities for teaching and learning across the fleet. Project leaders, engineers, planners, and emerging professionals benefit from shared operating experience, industry best practices, and training aligned with INPO and Electric Power Research Institute guidance. This collaborative model strengthens both organizational capability and individual leadership development.

The ultimate objective is straightforward: execute projects more safely, more efficiently, and with higher quality. But collaboration is not limited to utilities.

USA's supplier partners play a critical role in identifying technologies that can improve project execution, reduce risk, and increase plant reliability. Working together, USA is helping accelerate deployment of innovative solutions across multiple member stations. Examples include Project V-Wave from Crane, which enables online testing of motor-operated valves, reducing operational impacts while improving testing efficiency. Another example is collaboration with EnergySolutions to develop more-effective approaches for disposal of large plant components, helping utilities address significant project challenges with proven industry expertise.

By evaluating these innovations collaboratively, member utilities can learn from early adopters, reduce implementation risk, and realize benefits more quickly than if each station evaluated technologies independently.

The value of collaboration is measured not simply by meetings held but by results delivered. These are the expected outcomes of the Projects Peer Team:

Improved sourcing strategies.

Cost savings through collaborative procurement.

Reduced training costs through shared development programs.

Higher-quality project assessments.

Benchmarking and implementation of proven practices.

Better utilization of industry operating experience.

Stronger project governance across participating utilities.

Most importantly, these efforts support safe, reliable, and cost-effective nuclear operations.

The future of nuclear energy depends not only on new technologies but on how effectively the industry works together. As utilities face increasingly complex project portfolios, collaborative planning, shared expertise, strategic supplier partnerships, and fleet-wide learning will become even more important.

Thirty years ago, USA was founded on the belief that nuclear organizations are stronger when they collaborate. That principle remains just as relevant today. By sharing knowledge, developing common solutions, and accelerating innovation, the industry is better positioned to deliver the projects that will sustain safe, reliable nuclear generation for decades to come.

In an era defined by growth and opportunity, collaboration may be one of our industry's greatest competitive advantages.

Karen Fili is president and CEO of Utilities Service Alliance.