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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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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.
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2024) Plenary SPeaker
Dayna Ise is director of the Mars Campaign Office.
Named to the position in October 2023, she manages a portfolio responsible for the formulation and demonstration of advanced exploration systems to enable human missions to Mars, using a combination of unique in-house activities, public-private partnerships, and international partnerships. MCO is focused on infusing new technologies into current and future major flight programs: International Space Station (ISS), Human Landing System (HLS), Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program (EHP), Gateway, Orion, the Lunar Surface Habitat (LSH), and the Mars Transit Habitat (TH) which will be tested at Gateway in cislunar space before it begins its journey to Mars.
Prior to her current role, she was the deputy manager of the Science and Technology Office at Marshall Space Flight Center. In this capacity, she assisted in leading the organization responsible for projects and programs in support of the Science Mission Directorate and Space Technology Mission Directorate. This includes the Planetary Missions Program Office, the Technology Demonstration Missions Program Office, deep space and planetary exploration, fundamental research in heliophysics, astrophysics, and Earth science, and technology development.
Ise was previously project manager for Space Nuclear Propulsion at Marshall Space Flight Center. Prior to that role, she was division chief in the Systems Development, Integration, and Test Division; Program Executive for Technology Demonstration Missions at NASA Headquarters; and deputy launch vehicle manager for the Commercial Crew Program. She graduated from University of Alabama in Huntsville and has worked at NASA/MSFC for 23 years.
Last modified February 15, 2024, 11:41am MST
