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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
From operator to entrepreneur: David Garcia applies outage management lessons
David Garcia
If ComEd’s Zion plant in northern Illinois hadn’t closed in 1998, David Garcia might still be there, where he got his start in nuclear power as an operator at age 24.
But in his ninth year working there, Zion closed, and Garcia moved on to a series of new roles—including at Wisconsin’s Point Beach plant, the corporate offices of Minnesota’s Xcel Energy, and on the supplier side at PaR Nuclear—into an on-the-job education that he augmented with degrees in business and divinity that he sought later in life.
Garcia started his own company—Waymaker Resource Group—in 2014. Recently, Waymaker has been supporting Holtec’s restart project at the Palisades plant with staffing and analysis. Palisades sits almost exactly due east of the fully decommissioned Zion site on the other side of Lake Michigan and is poised to operate again after what amounts to an extended outage of more than three years. Holtec also plans to build more reactors at the same site.
For Garcia, the takeaway is clear: “This industry is not going away. Nuclear power and the adjacent industries that support nuclear power—and clean energy, period—are going to be needed for decades upon decades.”
In July, Garcia talked with Nuclear News staff writer Susan Gallier about his career and what he has learned about running successful outages and other projects.
Technical Session|Sponsored by FCWMD
Tuesday, June 18, 2024|3:15–5:00PM PDT|Jasmine A
Session Chair:
Christina Leggett
Alternate Chair:
Jenifer Shafer
Session Organizer:
Sven O. Bader
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Reference Shale Host Rock Properties and Chemistries for Deep Borehole Disposal Performance Modeling
3:15–3:35PM PDT
Ethan Bates (Deep Isolation), John Grimsich (Deep Isolation), Stefan Finsterle (Finsterle GeoConsulting), LianGe Zheng (Berkeley Lab), Mikey Hannon (Carbon Solutions), Jesse Sloane (Deep Isolation)
Paper
Advanced Reactor Waste Forms: State of Knowledge and Future Directions
3:35–3:55PM PDT
Jeffrey McLachlan (Berkeley Lab), Rebecca Abergel (Univ. California, Berkeley)
MgO Waste Form Irradiation Damage and Stability
3:55–4:15PM PDT
Eric C. O'Quinn (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), David J. Sprouster (Stony Brook Univ.), Maik K. Lang (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Jason R. Trelewicz (Stony Brook Univ.)
Probabilistic Digital Twin and Distributed Ledger Technology Based Safeguards Solution for Aqueous Nuclear Reprocessing Facilities
4:15–4:35PM PDT
Scott Evans (GE Vernova Advanced Research Center), John Carbone (GE Aerospace Advanced Research Center), Chris Reynolds (GE Vernova Advanced Research Center)
Economic Model Development for Deep Borehole Repositories
4:35–4:55PM PDT
Matt Waples (Deep Isolation), Vaibhav Sharma (Deep Isolation), Ethan Bates (Deep Isolation), Jesse Sloane (Deep Isolation)
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