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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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 NCSD
Wednesday, June 14, 2023|1:00–2:45PM EDT|Florida/Illinois
Session Chair:
Theresa E. Cutler
Alternate Chair:
Brittany M. Williamson
Session Organizer:
Joseph A. Christensen
Implementation of changes in the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle for emerging needs such as high-assay low-enriched uranium, advanced fuel types, advanced medical isotopes, and plutonium processing will require new facilities and their associated processes and equipment. Integration of nuclear criticality safety (NCS) principles, limits, and controls should be incorporated early in the design process. This session will include papers which address the new strategies which may be employed to integrate NCS into the design process, operating experience and lessons learned from past design projects, and the associated risks and challenges faced by NCS practitioners during the design processes
Joseph Christensen
SHINE Medical Technologies
Brittany Williamson
Spectra Tech/SRNS
Amber Dotzler
SHINE Technologies
Lon Paulson
GE Hitachi/Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas
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