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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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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.
Technical Session|Panel|Sponsored by RPSD
Tuesday, June 18, 2024|1:00–2:45PM PDT|Jasmine D
Session Chair:
Ken R. Czerwinski
Alternate Chair:
Alexander Barzilov
Session Organizer:
The SUSTAIN (SUpporting Strategic Training of Adaptable and Integrated Nuclear Workforce) project is a collaborative endeavor between the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Morgan State University, University of Maryland, the Regional Center for Nuclear Education and Training, and NuScale. The overarching aim of this initiative is to formulate a comprehensive and actionable strategy geared towards ensuring the availability of a diverse and proficient workforce capable of supporting the sustained operation of nuclear power generation within the United States. This will be achieved through an evaluation and lessons learned from previous workforce assessments, outreach to those in workforce supply, demand, and training, using the outreach to project future workforce needs, and development of content for training the future workforce. Through these interactions, the project endeavors to project future workforce requirements. Moreover, a pivotal aspect of the project involves the creation of tailored content designed to train the next generation of nuclear industry professionals. This Panel serves as a platform for soliciting input and feedback from stakeholders invested in the nuclear workforce. Their insights will not only inform the trajectory of the SUSTAIN project but also foster collaborative relationships for future endeavors.
Jaewon Lim
Univ. Nevada, Las Vegas
Lori Brady
NEI
Assel Aitkaliyeva
Univ. Florida
Kyle Hartig
Max Fratoni
Univ. California, Berkeley
Perry Motesgood
TerraPower
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