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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|Panel|Space Nuclear Propulsion
Monday, May 5, 2025|10:00–11:40AM CDT|Atlantis/Discovery/Columbia (Marriott)
Session Chair:
Michael G. Houts
Session Organizer:
Track Organizer:
Harold Gerrish (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
Advanced space fission systems can help enable colonization of the solar system. Exciting options for advanced fission power and propulsion systems will be discussed, along with the opportunities they could provide.
Roger Lenard
Little Prairie Services LLC
Patrick McCLure
SpaceNukes
Dale Thomas
University of Alabama-Hunstville
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