Retired Entergy Nuclear South president John McGaha has received the American Nuclear Society’s Utility Leadership Award.

McGaha, of Ridgeland, has more than 32 years of experience with Entergy’s nuclear program, and served as president of the five nuclear units in its southern service area — two units at Arkansas Nuclear One; and single units at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, south of Vicksburg, River Bend Station in St. Francisville, La., and Waterford 3, in south Louisiana.

He also was a member of the American Nuclear Society board, chairman of the ANS-Utility Integration Oversight Committee, and worked on advisory committees for the Nuclear Energy Institute and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.

He is currently on the NuScale Power advisory board for a new small modular reactor design, and works part time as an independent consultant to the nuclear industry.

He is a Tulane University graduate in electrical engineering and served in the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine program for five years. He retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1994 with the rank of captain.