Arizona Public Service has made changes to its senior leadership team at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station near Tonopah.

Bob Bement will be executive vice president, nuclear, and will continue reporting to Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Randy Edington. Jack Cadogan, presently the vice president of nuclear engineering, will replace Bement as senior vice president of site operations.

On Oct. 31, Bement will take over as executive vice president and chief nuclear officer while Edington becomes executive vice president and adviser to the CEO.

“I want to thank Randy Edington for his great service to our customers, our company and our state over the past nine years,” Don Brandt, APS chairman, president and CEO, said. “When Randy arrived, Palo Verde faced difficult regulatory and operational challenges. He put together a great team, which included Bob Bement, and more quickly than anyone thought possible, restored confidence and operational excellence at the plant. I am proud to say that under Randy’s leadership, Palo Verde has become a model for other plants nationally and around the world as one of the best in the industry.”

Last year the plant generated a record 32.5 million megawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity as the 24th consecutive year the plant was the nation’s largest power producer. Palo Verde is the only generating plant in the country to produce more than 30 million megawatt-hours in a year.

Bement has headed day-to-day nuclear operations at Palo Verde for nine years.

“Bob Bement has served side-by-side with Randy at Palo Verde almost from Randy’s first day at APS," Brandt said. "Bob understands the plant culture and was essential in Palo Verde’s return to excellence. Randy and I have always agreed that the true measure of a leader is the organization’s ability to excel after that leader is gone. In Bob, we have the ideal successor to continue Randy’s outstanding work and to ensure Palo Verde’s enduring industry leadership.”