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Getting back to yes: A local perspective on decommissioning, restart, and responsibility
For 45 years, Duane Arnold Energy Center operated in Linn County, Ia., near the town of Palo and just northwest of Cedar Rapids. The facility, owned by NextEra Energy, was the only nuclear power plant in the state.
In August 2020, a historic derecho swept across eastern Iowa with winds approaching 140 miles per hour. Damage to the plant’s cooling towers accelerated a shutdown that had already been planned, and the facility entered decommissioning soon after, with its fuel removed in October of that year. Iowa’s only nuclear plant had gone off line.
Today the national energy landscape looks very different than it did just six short years ago. Electricity demand is rising rapidly as data centers, artificial intelligence infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and electrification expand across the country. Reliable, carbon-free baseload power has become increasingly valuable. In that context, Linn County has approved the rezoning necessary to support the recommissioning and restart of Duane Arnold and is actively supporting NextEra’s efforts to secure the remaining state and federal approvals.
2022
Advanced Test Reactor Team (INL)
2019
Callaway Energy CenterAmeren Missouri
2016
Advanced Test Reactor
2013
Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor
2010
Texas A&M Nuclear Science CenterUniversity of Florida Text ReactorPurdue University ReactorOregon State UniversityWashington State University Nuclear ReactorUniversity of Wisconsin Nuclear ReactorNeutron Radiography Reactor
2007
Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory (NETL) at the University of Texas at Austin
2005
B. Ralph Sylvia (posthumously)
2001
Peter Martin, Wolf Creek Nuclear Station
2000
Yuichi Hayashi
1999
Louis F. Storz
1998
FFTF OperationsMaintenanceEngineeringin recognition of disciplined defueling operations and storage operations of spent mixed oxide fuel
1997
Howard MaxwellThe Arizona Public Service Predictive Maintenance Team
1996
Brookhaven National Laboratory
1993
Leo B. Holland (Martin Marietta Energy Systems)Louis F. Storz (Toledo Edison)
1992
George C. Fullmer (GE NuclearSan Jose) (retired)
1991
Graham M. Leitch (Philadelphia Electric CompanyLimerick Generating Station)W. T. Ullrich (Tennessee Valley AuthorityBrowns Ferry Unit 3 Restart)
1990
Patrick Tierney and Eward L. Watzl (Northern States Power)Henry D. HukillT. Gary Broughton and Michael J. Ross (GPU Nuclear Corp.)Robert M. BruggerDon M. AlgerJ. Charles McKibben and Chester B. Edwards, Jr. (University of Missouri-Columbia)
1989
James E. O'Sullivan (Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.)Team of: C. ChiuW. FrickB. WoodsJ. TateS. McMahanD. NiebrueggeV. FisherJ. SalazarB. DuncilC. ElliottW. WilczekM. GutellJ. Moore R. WaldoG. HollowaySouthern California Edison Company (San Onofre Trip Reduction Task Force)
1988
Donald R. Harris (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)William A. Haller (Duke Power Company)Richard M. Smith (Carolina Power & Light Company)
1987
FFTF Reactor Operations Management Team: R. H. DavisG. B. GriffinD. G. HamrickL. E. HarvilleC. P. WickD. J. SwaimJohn C. Merritt, Jr. (Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company)Team: Shuh-Ji Tsuei (Taiwan Power Company)Shoei-Jin LiaoNeng-Fu Shih
1986
Richard J. Cashwell (University of Wisconsin)Harold W. Keiser (Pennsylvania Power & Light Company)
1985
Charles R. Dietz (Carolina Power and Light Co. Brunswick Nuclear Project)Team of: Roland N. Smith (Argonne National LaboratoryID) and William H. Perry (EBR II)Team of: Efford H. Pierce (Yankee Atomic Electric Co.)Edward A. WalshEdwin R. TaylorDonald B. VassarKarl E. Jurentkuff
1983
Peter Martin
