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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
Anastasia (Stacy) Mclaughlin is the Senior Director for Science, Technology, and Engineering Programs within the Weapons Production Directorate (ALDWP) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Laboratory is a principal contributor to the United States Department of Energy mission to maintain the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. LANL uses innovative science, technology, and engineering to enhance global nuclear security and protect the world. Los Alamos has an annual operating budget of approximately $3.9 billion, roughly 14,100 employees, and a 40-square-mile site featuring some of the most specialized scientific equipment and supporting infrastructure in the world.
As Senior Director, Stacy leads the non-defense nuclear programs within ALDWP to support national security and deep space endeavors. These programs provide world-class services in nuclear material research, process, and technology development and manufacturing capabilities that support nuclear non-proliferation, plutonium-238 science, manufacturing for NASA and Americium recovery occurring at the Los Alamos’s Plutonium Facility.
Stacy has over 25-years of technical and management experience working throughout the DOE/NNSA weapons complex in program and line management, quality engineering, non-destructive plutonium assay, plutonium processing and engineering, and hazardous waste management. She began her laboratory career as an undergraduate student at LANL in 1994, becoming a consultant, then a technical staff member, and advancing through multiple national security management positions to her present position.
Stacy earned a bachelor’s of science in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Riverside, and a master’s of engineering in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico.
Stacy is a native New Mexican, born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She enjoys sports including skiing and swimming and watching her four children compete in a variety of sports. She is an avid reader and enjoys hiking.
Last modified January 19, 2024, 1:53pm MST
