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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.
Global 2026
Project Director
Sargent & Lundy
Michael Marohl is a Project Director at Sargent & Lundy with 20 years of experience in the nuclear power industry. He has extensive expertise in new-generation nuclear facility design and has provided design leadership for the AP1000 nuclear island standard plant design completion, Vogtle Units 3 & 4 construction support, the SHINE medical isotope production facility, the NuScale standard plant design, and the BWRX-300 standard plant design. He has also provided project management leadership for the CFPP FEED project and the SMR Romania FEED project.
Mr. Marohl is a recognized technical leader in modular design, including steel-composite wall systems. He has served on ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code committees and as Sargent & Lundy’s process owner for buried piping design and reinforced concrete structures and foundation design. He has published several technical papers on advanced design topics and is a subject matter expert in new-generation nuclear project delivery.
