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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
Manager, Radioisotope Power Systems Program
NASA Glenn Research Center
Mr. Carl E. Sandifer II currently serves as the Program Manager and Division Chief for the Radioisotope Power Systems Program at the NASA Glenn Research Center. In this role, he leads the development of power systems to enable NASA missions given a high priority by the scientific community to visit some of the harshest, darkest, and coldest locations in the solar system. Prior to this role, he served as the Deputy Chief of the Space Science Project Office at Glenn, and managed the science portfolio at the Center, which includes the development of new technologies, instruments, and systems to enable planetary science missions. Mr. Sandifer has a wealth of program and project management experience, along with a background in space mission design and systems analysis.
Carl graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics degree from Bowling Green State University, studied Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University and earned his Master of Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Last modified November 6, 2023, 1:06pm MST
