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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.
ANS provides a variety of resources for members to use in reaching out to the general public, schools, and others about nuclear topics. One of those sources is NuclearConnect.org.
The Center for Nuclear Science Technology Information makes the complex nuclear world easier to understand for the general public. We encourage and inspire fun nuclear education for K-12 students. Most of all, we help people learn the many benefits that nuclear science and technology brings to their lives, from their health to their safety and many conveniences in their everyday lives. Explore our site to find out what you may not know about nuclear!
Last modified February 13, 2019, 2:24pm CST
