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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!
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.
Technical Session|Fission Surface Power/Nuclear Electric Propulsion
Wednesday, May 8, 2024|10:00–11:40AM MDT|Sweeney B
Session Chair:
Michael C. Miller
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Georgette Alexander-Morrison
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Thermal Testing Results of Clad Yttrium Hydride
10:00–10:06AM MDT
C.A. Kohnert (LANL), A.P. Shivprasad (LANL), M. Pate (LANL), E.P. Luther (LANL), H.R. Trellue (LANL), D. V. Rao (LANL)
Paper
Yttrium Hydride Moderator Cladding Fabrication
10:06–10:12AM MDT
Michal Pate (LANL), Erik Luther (LANL), Caitlin Kohnert (LANL), Aditya Shivprasad (LANL)
Hydrogen Transport in Yttrium Hydride Under Asymmetric Heat
10:12–10:18AM MDT
Hanns Gietl (INL), Chase N. Taylor (INL), M. Nedim Cinbiz (INL), Sebastian Corbisiero (INL)
Survivability Testing of Fused Silica Moderator Cladding
10:18–10:24AM MDT
Chase N. Taylor (INL), Aditya P. Shivprasad (LANL), H. Kris Woodbury (INL), Hanns Gietl (INL), Sebastian C. Corbisiero (INL)
Pelleting and Analysis of Mixed Ce/U Oxides for Space Applications
10:24–10:30AM MDT
Hywel Ragnauth (Univ. Manchester), Samira Bostanchi (Lucideon), Gareth Jones (Lucideon), David Pearmain (Lucideon), Mark Sarsfield (National Nuclear Laboratory), Tim Abram (Univ. Manchester), Robert Harrison (Univ. Manchester)
Electrodeposition of Zirconium on Uranium Nitride
10:30–10:36AM MDT
Jarom Chamberlain (LANL), Hannah Patenaude (LANL), Amanda Musgrove (LANL), Rami Batrice (LANL), Erofili Kardoulaki (LANL), Marisa Monreal (LANL), Tim Coons (LANL)
Thermal Diffusivity Measurements of NpO2-Al Cermets
10:36–10:42AM MDT
Victor Bautista (ORNL), Justin Griswold (ORNL), Chris Jensen (ORNL)
Modular CdZnTe Imaging Spectrometers for General Radiation Detection Applications in Space
10:42–10:48AM MDT
Michael Streicher (H3D), Willy Kaye (H3D), Feng Zhang (H3D), Jim Mason (H3D), Ryan Parsons (H3D), David Goodman (H3D), Daniel Shy (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory), Bernard Phlips (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)
Direct In-Core Conversion Fission Reactor: Powering Space Exploration over the Kilowatt Horizon
10:48–10:54AM MDT
Oliver Jeffery (Univ. Leicester), Agostino Maurotto (Univ. Leicester), Richard M. Ambrosi (Univ. Leicester), Ramy Mesalam (Univ. Leicester), Pierluigi Chiovaro (Universita di Palermo), Pietro Alessandro Di Maio (Universita di Palermo)
Assessment of Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) Concepts and Development of a NEP Roadmap for Europe
10:54–11:00AM MDT
Pablo Rubiolo (Grenoble Institute of Technology), Nicolas Capellan (Grenoble Institute of Technology), Stefano Lorenzi (Politecnico di Milano), Ricardo Boccelli (Politecnico di Milano), Andrea D'Octtavio (Thales Alenia Space), Angelica Peressotti (Thales Alenia Space), Federico Romei (OhmSpace), André Cuenca (Alcadia), Antonio Sauvage (Alcadia), Alessandra Barco (Univ. Leicester), Andreas Hein (Univ. Luxembourg), Adam Abdin (CentraleSupélec)
Development of an Advanced Power Conversion System for Next Generation Space Nuclear Applications
11:00–11:06AM MDT
Jon Ebacher (Rolls-Royce Corp.), Eric Maxeiner (Rolls-Royce North America), Neil Backus (Rolls-Royce Corp.)
A Strategy for Successful, Expeditious Development and In-Space Demonstration, as well as Continuing Growth, of Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) Platforms for a wide Range of USSF, NASA, and Commercial Applications
11:06–11:12AM MDT
Joseph A. Sholtis (Sholtis Engineering & Safety Consulting)
Presentation Slides (Visible to Attendees)
Emerging High Temperature Sensors and Electronics for Future Lunar-Martian Reactors
11:12–11:18AM MDT
Robert Okojie (NASA Glenn Research Center), Philip Neudeck (NASA Glenn Research Center), Susan Wrbanek (NASA Glenn Research Center), John Wrbanek (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Presented by Tyler Steiner (NASA Glenn Research Center)
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