It's like old home week in Covert for Charlie Arnone. He has picked up a new tour of duty with the team at Entergy, this time as the new boss at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, where he will provide overall management and safe, secure and reliable operation of the 800-megawatt power plant.
Entergy has named Charles (Charlie) Arnone to the role as the new Site Vice President at Palisades where he succeeds Tony Vitalie who has returned to his native New York to serve as Site Vice President of Entergy's largest nuclear power plant, the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, New York. It's a homecoming of sorts for both men inasmuch as Vitale had previously worked at Indian Point for more than two decades.
Arnone is celebrating a bit of a homecoming at Palisades where he was the Director of Nuclear Safety Assurance for two tours of duty, from 2007 to 2009 and again from 2011 to 2013. Arnone began his nuclear career 31 years ago after eight years in the US Navy Nuclear Power program. Prior to becoming Site Vice President at Palisades, Arnone served the entire Entergy nuclear fleet as General Manager Operations Support and then as interim VP-Operations Support. Throughout his career, Arnone has held various positions in the nuclear industry and has developed extensive operations experience.
Regarding his new job, Charlie says, “I look forward to leading Palisades into the future with continual performance improvement, operating at the highest levels of safety and reliability. It is with great pride that I return to Palisades and rejoin the team of nuclear professionals, dedicated not only to their jobs, but to giving back to their communities.”
Arnone’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Nuclear Science and Engineering from the University of Maryland. He’s held a reactor license and two senior reactor operator licenses. He also completed Eckerd College’s Leadership Development Program and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators’ Senior Nuclear Plant Management Course.
Arnone has owned a home in Lawrence since first moving to Southwest Michigan nine years ago. He lives there with his wife, Maureen, a Michigan native, while their two daughters reside in Washington, DC.
The Palisades Power Plant in Covert generates 800 megawatts of reliable and virtually carbon-free electricity – enough to safely and securely power 800,000 homes in Southwest Michigan. It provides 600 highly-skilled full-time jobs for professionals in the area, plus another 1,200 specialty jobs during refueling and maintenance outages. Palisades pays $11.2 million in annual taxes, making it the largest tax payer in Van Buren County. Every year, Palisades donates more than $325,000 in charitable contributions to the community and non-profit organizations.
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. The company owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $12 billion and approximately 13,000 employees.
