ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
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.
Please review the ANS Code of Ethics and Respectful Behavior Policy.
By uploading your presentation file(s), the author gives ANS permission to host and use the file(s) for the purpose of hosting the Virtual Annual Meeting. Microsoft PowerPoint or Adobe Acrobat (PDF) presentation files will not be made available to attendees; only limited users (session chairs, organizers, ANS staff, and meeting admins) will have direct access to these files for the sole purpose of displaying/broadcasting the presentations for the meeting. Presentations should not have copyrighted material included, because the sessions will be recorded and viewable by meeting attendees at any time. The summary submitted for Transactions of the American Nuclear Society are subject to copyright and should not be shared without written permission from ANS and the author.
All links will be live shortly before the session starts. Please feel free to add all your sessions to your personalized itinerary. You can also add sessions to your calendar by clicking on "Subscribe to Your Itinerary Calendar."
Yes, each technical session will have an ANS Staff Producer assigned for basic assistance. For any extra assistance or questions, please email conferences@ans.org.
Yes, all attendees need to register to gain access to the platform and access to the technical session links. Register now!
Most presentations are allowed 20 minutes with a 5 minutes Q&A. Please contact your chair ahead of time for specifics on your session.
Yes, the PowerPoint Template is available on the Resources page.
Sign in to the ANS website and click this link: “Manage My Papers” in the left menu. Click the title of the correct paper, then scroll to the Attachments panel that will allow you to select the file type and upload the presentation to the platform.
We are allowing PDF, PPT, MP4, and links to external (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo) videos (for prerecorded videos).
The sessions will all take place live, but if a presenter cannot make their designated time, you may see part of a session prerecorded.
Yes, please note all sessions will be recorded and made available shortly after on the ANS site. Please contact conferences@ans.org if recording the session may cause any issues.
Yes, registrants will have access to all sessions. Please give ANS 24 hours after completion of session to post the recordings to the platform.
That is up to the author and the Session Chair. We recommend that each presenter share their screen and run their own presentation. Session Chairs, please be ready in case of an internet connection issue, power loss, etc.
There are two ways attendees will be able to ask questions; one option is to submit questions through the Q&A function and the other is to click the “raise your hand” button and the Session Chair can then unmute the attendee to ask the question. The chair of the session will announce how they are handling questions at the beginning of each session. If the session is run as a Zoom Meeting, the only option is to “raise your hand”; there will not be a chat or Q&A function.
Please contact conferences@ans.org and they will direct your question to the appropriate staff.
There will be a comments section on each session page of the meeting platform. Please feel free to browse the technical sessions!
There is no app for this meeting.
Yes, please contact conferences@ans.org for assistance. You will be responsible for sending us a list of all the sessions you’d like credit for.
Yes! Please visit the Resources page to download and for instructions.
We have several options!
Please email conferences@ans.org any time.
Text during meeting hours: (708) 475-7885Call during meeting hours: (800) 323-3044
Monday 9AM–4PM (EDT)Tuesday 9AM–5PM (EDT)Wednesday 9AM–5PM (EDT)Thursday 9AM–1PM (EDT)
Last modified June 2, 2020, 5:05pm EDT
