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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.
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
