She ensures compliance with nuclear and environmental requirements, supporting the company’s mission to be “first to fleet” while meeting all applicable laws and standards.
Kym Harshaw
General Counsel
Kym Harshaw leads ZettaJoule’s legal strategy and risk management for regulatory, corporate, and commercial matters. She advises the CEO and leadership team, overseeing governance, key contracts, and partnerships.
Most notably
Kym is a prominent nuclear energy leader who was among the first women in the U.S. to earn a Senior Reactor Operator license and lead a team in the control room of a commercial nuclear plant.
She is also a practicing attorney, bringing both operational and legal expertise to complex, mission-critical environments.
Throughout her storied career, she has mentored and advised the next generation of professionals as they pursue careers and leadership roles in nuclear energy and other STEM-driven fields.
Kym is of Mohegan descent and serves on the Mohegan Ethics Panel. She formerly served as Vice President of the Mohegan Tribal Utility Authority.
Professional experience
Kym serves as an executive consultant and legal advisor, as well as Chair of a nuclear utility’s safety review board.
During her tenure at STP Nuclear Operating Company, she served as Interim President and CEO and was a member of the Board of Directors, leading day-to-day operations through an ownership transition and the retirement of the CEO.
Other positions Kym held at STP included Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer, and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel/Corporate Secretary. In these roles she helped sustain a strong nuclear, industrial and environmental safety record; helped achieve record generation of more than 22,000 GWh, served as instructor for leadership classes, and strengthened operational performance through implementation of strategic plans.
While at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, one of the world’s top nuclear energy law firms, Kym represented clients in administrative proceedings before the NRC, including drafting briefs and motions, writing testimony, overseeing discovery, and delivering oral arguments at hearings. She also prepared clients for regulatory conferences, NRC supplemental inspections, and NRC vendor inspections. Her work included representing clients in new plant licensing matters and supporting international arbitration involving nuclear utility vendors.
As an Associate at Hunton & Williams, Kym supported the Yucca Mountain licensing effort, advised on regulations related to license transfers, and developed training materials for utility management on NRC employee protection requirements and safety-conscious work environment principles. She also represented utilities in Clean Air Act and state air pollution matters.
Education
Kym earned her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law where she graduated with High Honors. She was inducted into the prestigious Order of the Coif and was an editor for the Carolina Law Review.
She is admitted to practice law in Texas, Washington, D.C., and Virginia.
Kym earned an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
More about Kym
Kym renovated and now lives in the 1910 home of her beloved grandfather.
An accomplished runner, she has completed 15 full marathons.