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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!
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Sep 2025
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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|Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
Wednesday, May 8, 2024|10:00–11:40AM MDT|Coronado/DeVargas
Session Chair:
Lindsey Holmes
Alternate Chair:
Session Organizer:
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Initial Verification of ntpThermo against Mixcoatl for Computationally Efficient Multiphysics Analysis of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Reactors
10:00–10:25AM MDT
Seth Nettersom (BWX Technologies), Drew Bergeon (BWX Technologies), Bryan Zilka (BWX Technologies), Matt Krecicki (BWX Technologies)
Paper
Preliminary Full-Core Analysis of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Reactors Using Nodal Diffusion Codes
10:25–10:50AM MDT
Jake Smith (Georgia Tech), Dan Kotlyar (Georgia Tech)
Preliminary Sensitivity Studies Using a Newly Developed System Code for NTP Analysis
10:50–11:15AM MDT
R. Myers (Georgia Tech), D. Kotlyar (Georgia Tech)
Coupled Reactor and Engine Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Modeling Methodology
11:15–11:40AM MDT
Jacob Stonehill (Analytical Mechanics Assoc.), Daria Nikitaeva (Analytical Mechanics Assoc.), Corey Smith (Analytical Mechanics Assoc.), Matthew Duchek (Analytical Mechanics Assoc.)
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