Expertise - Biography

Rick Westcott

Mr. Rick Westcott is a nuclear power plant professional with Over forty years of leadership and management experience in the naval and commercial nuclear programs specializing in the operation and maintenance of plants, training and development of staffs, and assessment of organizational effectiveness. His principle strengths are his considerable hands-on experiences, his attention to detail, and his transferable passion/commitment to excellence.

 Corporate/Plant Experience

• 2011-Present - Senior Consultant, NWI Consulting, LLC, Knoxville, TN.
  • Senior Consultant. Provided services in training and accreditation, regulatory recovery and nuclear oversight assignments. 
  • Assessed, strategized and developed Station Identified Findings and the station Accreditation Self-Evaluation Reports leading to successful accreditation renewals.   
  • Developed and directed a principal performance area  recovery for a station in NRC IM Chapter 0350. This involved integrating coordination and execution efforts from station management, the NRC and other performance area teams ensuring positive inspection results and plant restart.
  • Provided nuclear oversight services assessing station performance, inspection/evaluation readiness and nuclear oversight effectiveness.     
• 1998-2011 - Omaha Public Power District, Omaha, Nebraska.
  • 2007-2011 - Manager – Quality. Upgraded the oversight programs for the operation of Fort Calhoun Station to better address performance issues and drive the station to excellence. Strategically manned, realigned, trained and invigorated the staff to meet the station’s oversight needs adding credibility and worth to issues raised.
  • 2009-2010 - Special Assignment – Accreditation Recovery Team Manager
    Drove site efforts to successfully strengthen training program performance and regain training program accreditation status.
  • 2005-2007 - Manager- Nuclear Projects. Led the Project Management Office for largest scope plant life extension refurbishment ever attempted by a utility. This involved the replacement of major components in the Nuclear Steam Supply System and Secondary Plant along with refurbishment of the Control Room Simulator. With a budget of $417 million and planned outage duration of 90 days, the project finished $30 million under budget and 5 days ahead of schedule. In addition the quality of the installation allowed the plant to remain online for the duration of the next operating cycle.
  • 1998-2005 - Manager – Nuclear Training. Led the nuclear training department and facility through four national reaccreditation periods. Navigated the transition from technical-based to performance-based training helping the Station exceed its best performance over the 26 years of operation, solving many long-standing performance issues. Found innovative ways to cross-train, use technology, and economize in a fiscally restrained environment providing better quality training than ever before.
• 1970-1998 - U.S. NAVY 1970-1998. Broad experience in the naval nuclear submarine service involving increasing levels of responsibility and scope.
  • Inspector General, US Strategic Command, Omaha, NE. Supervised a team of six senior personnel that performed compliance, management, and security assessments on 46 multi-disciplinary and geographically separated activities reporting to the managing headquarters. Provided frank and timely feedback to the CEO for strategic planning decisions.
  • Commanding Officer, USS West Virginia, Kings Bay, GA. Built a responsive and dedicated staff that dynamically managed a unit worth over $2 billion in plant property operating with a $7 million budget.
  • Commanding Officer, Naval Nuclear Power School, Orlando, FL. Directed the Navy's nuclear training academy producing over 8700 nuclear operators and leaders.
  • Commanding Officer, USS Von Steuben, Charleston, SC. Effectively operated an older and more maintenance intensive ship. Engineering readiness evaluations judged the operation in the top 5% of the fleet.

Academic Credentials and Qualifications

• MBA, U. of Nebraska (Lincoln), (Highest Distinction).
• BS, Systems Engineering, U. S. Naval Academy.
• U.S. Navy Senior Officer Nuclear Power Course, equiv. to MS in Nuclear Eng.
• U.S. Navy Officer Nuclear Power Training.
• Trained and proficient in Causal Analysis, STREAM Analysis and Performance Analysis.
• Computer Literate (Microsoft Word, Excel, Lotus Notes, PassPort, Event & Causal Factor Charting).