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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.
Pietro F. (Pete) Pasqua
Morton E. WacksKarl E. J. Wirtz
University of Maryland (First Place)University of Florida (Second Place)Mississippi State University (Third Place)Kansas State University (Honorable Mention)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Honorable Mention)University of Illinois (Honorable Mention)
Donald F. Melton
Wanda I. Munn
Daniel G. Cacuci
George C. Laurence posthumously
Eastern Washington (Best Overall, Large)Eastern Carolinas (Best Overall, Small, Best Meetings and Programs)Eastern Washington (ANS Local Section Exhibit)Idaho (Best Section Management)Arizona (Best Membership)Oak Ridge/Knoxville (Best Public Information and Education)
Donald R. Harris (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)William A. Haller (Duke Power Company)Richard M. Smith (Carolina Power & Light Company)
David Norman Smithe
Mohamed A. AbdouRobert A. Krakowski
Jacques Leclercq
Ari Brynjolfsson
Leo Yaffe
Hans BlixKeith Glennen
Bruce D. Kenyon
A. Dixon CallihanRalph G. ChalkerMiles C. Leverett
GraduateUniversity of TennesseeGypsy Tweed, David Auslander, Itacil Gomes, Luisa Gomes, Lamartime Guimaraes, Brian Rooney, Tanju SofuUndergraduateUniversity of California-BerkeleyJames Liu, Vinh Dang, Matt EnmarkHonorable Mention - GraduateOhio State UniversityJeff Woollard, Todd Hilsmeier, Hassan Basha, Hua ShaoHonorable Mention - UndergraduateUniversity of TennesseeSteven P. Cerne, Anthony L. Hurst, Faisal Algutifan, Syed Maswood
Sanjoy Banerjee
Chauncey Starr
Floyd L. Culler
