Dan Cooke

Dan Cooke was born in 1955 and grew up in upstate New York. He started work as a union electrician at various pulp factories in Glens Falls and Troy during the early 1980s. After a recommendation from a friend, Dan started work as a contractor for Crouse Nuclear-a company that serviced Indian Point during refueling outages (among many other nuclear plants). During that first outage, Dan installed a new heat trace panel and replaced circulating pumps at the river intake lines. As a mechanical and maintenance supervisor, he also worked refueling outages at James A. Fitzpatrick, Rancho Seco, LaSalle, and Yankee Rowe nuclear power plants across the United States. After being hired by NYPA in 1998, Dan became a planning supervisor for INC. During the Entergy merger he was reassigned to the White Plains corporate office to coordinate materials purchasing for the nuclear fleet. From 2005-2007 Dan hit the road again by assisting Entergy in Nebraska, Pilgrim Nuclear, and Palisades Nuclear as a supply chain manager. He has most recently worked as a work week manager and as an accessor in nuclear independent oversight at Indian Point. This interview gives a firsthand account of what Dan calls “the life of a nuclear nomad,” supply chain management, and nuclear independent oversight.