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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|Space Nuclear Propulsion
Wednesday, May 7, 2025|10:00–11:40AM CDT|SPOC B (Space & Rocket Center)
Session Chair:
Jason Reynolds (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
Alternate Chair:
Justin Milner (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Track Organizer:
Harold Gerrish (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
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Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Reactor: Recent Advances in Design, Materials, and Fuel Testing
10:00–10:25AM CDT
Gerald Lilienthal (General Atomics), Christina Back (General Atomics), Robert Schleicher (General Atomics), Ryan Hon (General Atomics), Jonas Opperman (General Atomics), Nicole Pacheco (General Atomics), Hesham Khalifa (General Atomics), Christopher Nodine (General Atomics), Nick Eidietis (General Atomics), Andrew Giles (General Atomics), Simrun Saini (General Atomics), Jaclynn Unangst (General Atomics), Matthew Virgen (General Atomics), Bob Noren (General Atomics), Brian Parme (General Atomics), Ray Pili (General Atomics), James Pate (General Atomics), Brian Cluggish (General Atomics), John Bolin (General Atomics), Christian Deck (General Atomics), Millie Andrews (General Atomics), Lloyd Brown (General Atomics), Qinghong Chen (General Atomics), Michael Cevallos (General Atomics), Michael Condon (General Atomics), Patrick Howard (General Atomics), Jackie Renteria (General Atomics), Kenneth Redler (General Atomics), Zachary Spidell (General Atomics), Trey Villarreal (General Atomics), Mohammad Alavi (General Atomics), Daniel-Steve Fournier (General Atomics), Daniel Keane (General Atomics)
Paper
Ground Testing Concept of Operations for the First Generation Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Engine
10:25–10:50AM CDT
Daria Nikitaeva (AMA), Matthew Duchek (AMA), Corey D. Smith (AMA)
Presentation Slides (Visible to Attendees)
Development of Sieverts Apparatus for High Pressure Thermodynamic Behavior of Zirconium Hydride
10:50–11:15AM CDT
Darrell Cheu (LANL), Aditya Shivprasad (LANL), Caitlin Kohnert (LANL), Erofili Kardoulaki (LANL)
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