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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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.
Technical Session|Radioisotope Power Systems
Monday, May 5, 2025|3:15–4:55PM CDT|Salon EF (Marriott)
Session Chair:
Allen Guzik (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Track Organizer:
Harold Gerrish (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
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Conceptual Study of Thermal Design for WEB Based on the Korean Small RTG and Future Application Plans
3:15–3:40PM CDT
Sunjin Kim (KAERI), Hui-Kyung Kim (KARI), Jong-Bum Kim (KAERI), Kwang-Jae Son (KAERI), Jin-Joo Kim (KAERI), Jin Kim (KAERI), Yongrok Jeong (KAERI), Kilyoung Ko (KAERI), Dong Yong Rew (KASA), Jintae Hong (KAERI)
Paper
AMBER: 241 Am Sources for Small Low-Power Satellite Applications
3:40–4:05PM CDT
Daniel Gadaleta (CSNR), Jackson C. Stahl (CSNR), Robert C. O'Brien (CSNR)
The Journey of Pulsar, Pu-238-Coupled Dynamic Power System for Space Exploration and Beyond
4:05–4:30PM CDT
Alessia Simonini (Tractebel Engineering), Nicolas Delannay (Tractebel Engineering), Beatriz Acevedo (SCK CEN), Jeremie Manaud (European Commission), Michel L. Schlegel (CEA), François Lanzetta (Univ. Franche-Comté), Dominique Vergnet (Airbus), Ana Fort (INCOTEC), Frederic Lattwein (Ariane Group), Brieuc Spindler (Tractebel Engineering)
An Integrated Satellite/Radioisotope Power System Concept for VLEO
4:30–4:55PM CDT
Chadwick Barklay (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Simon Dawson (Optimum Technologies, Inc.), James Peterka (Optimum Technologies, Inc.), Christopher Venturella (Univ. Dayton Research Institute), Matthew Johnson (Univ. Dayton Research Institute)
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