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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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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|Fission Surface Power
Monday, May 5, 2025|3:15–4:55PM CDT|Atlantis/Discovery/Columbia (Marriott)
Session Chair:
Tyler Steiner (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Track Organizer:
Harold Gerrish (Marshall Space Flight Center)
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Mining Lunar Helium-3: The Financial Catalyst for Moon Mission
3:15–3:21PM CDT
C. Salvino (Univ. Arizona), D. DeJarnette (Lunar Helium-3 Mining, LLC), M. Momayez (Univ. Arizona)
Paper
Advancing International Collaboration in Space Nuclear Safety
3:21–3:27PM CDT
Matthew E. Granger (IAASS)
The Potential for Offloading of Fission Surface Power Systems to the Lunar Surface
3:27–3:33PM CDT
Jacob R. Martin (NASA Langley Research Center), Julia E. Cline (NASA Langley Research Center)
Closed Brayton Cycle Development and Demonstration for Lunar Fission Surface Power
3:33–3:39PM CDT
Erich Soendker (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Leslie Woodger (Aerojet Rocketdyne), David Hanks (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Noah Forsyth (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Don Carlson (Aerojet Rocketdyne)
Advances in Design and Multiphysics Analysis of Failsafe Heat Pipe Cooled Nuclear Reactor for Space and Surface Application
3:39–3:45PM CDT
Aanchal Gupta (Univ. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), R. Magdi Ragheb (Univ. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Rizwan-uddin (Univ. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
Shielding Design, Configurations, and Materials Considerations for Fission Surface Power
3:45–3:51PM CDT
Alexis Maldonado (LANL), Alex Levinsky (LANL), Keenan Hoffman (LANL)
Radiation Hardened Self-Calibrating Temperature Sensors
3:51–3:57PM CDT
N. Dianne Bull Ezell (ORNL), Kyle Reed (ORNL), Daniel Sweeney (ORNL)
ECSPLORER, Electronuclear System for Space: Reactor Studies for Performance Optimization
3:57–4:02PM CDT
Malcie Charlier (CEA), Jean-Baptiste Droin (CEA), Martin Mascaron (CEA), Pierre Sciora (CEA), Frédéric Bertrand (CEA), François Lanzetta (Univ. Franche-Comté)
Deimos, an Advanced and Space Reactor Testbed
4:02–4:08PM CDT
Alexis Maldonado (LANL), Alex Levinsky (LANL)
Space Nuclear Reactor Radiation Monitor Development
4:08–4:14PM CDT
Suzanne Nowicki (LANL), Steve Wender (LANL), Alexis Maldonado (LANL), Kranti Gunthoti (LANL), Andrew Prince (LANL), Jesus Perello Izaguirre (LANL)
Engineered Ceramic Composite Moderators for Fission Surface Power Applications
4:14–4:20PM CDT
Jason R. Trelewicz (Stony Brook Univ.), Lance L. Snead (Stony Brook Univ.), David J. Sprouster (Stony Brook Univ.), Nicholas R. Brown (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville)
Key Post-irradiation Examination Results of Yttrium Hydrides as Irradiated at Us DOE Nuclear Test Reactor Infrastructure
4:20–4:26PM CDT
M. Nedim Cinbiz (ORNL)
Investigations on Capillary Flow and Liquid Entrainment Characteristics in Braided Wire Wick Structures
4:26–4:32PM CDT
Yohan Kim (Kyung Hee Univ.), Hyungdae Kim (Kyung Hee Univ.)
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