The senior vice president of Pacific Gas & Electric’s generation business, and the head of its nuclear energy segment, will retire at the end of the year, the company said this week.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Senior Vice President of Generation Jim Welsch planned to retire effective Dec. 31, according to a Monday press release from the company. Welsch is also PG&E’s chief nuclear officer.
Welsch joined PG&E in 1984 and oversees the utility’s nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric and renewable energy segments, the statement said, He is also in charge of PG&E’s nuclear plant decommissioning activities.
Welsch was to be replaced by Paula Gerfen, currently the site vice president of Diablo Canyon Power Station, PG&E said. Gerfen has been at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant for 30 years or so, starting in 1991 as a data engineer. She holds a senior reactor operator license and a Bachelor’s degree in computer science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Replacing Gerfen at Diablo Canyon will be Adam Peck, who joined PG&E in 2009, the company said.
Diablo Canyon, located about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is California’s last operating nuclear power plant. PG&E has said that it would shut down the site’s two reactors in 2024 and 2025 — although pressure is mounting to keep the plant online. The utility also operated Humboldt Bay Power Plant’s Unit 3 reactor in Eureka, Calif., which has been completely decommissioned.