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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|Panels|Modeling and Simulation
Thursday, October 10, 2024|8:00–9:45AM MDT|Room 3
Session Chair:
George Mesina
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Robert Kile
A RELAP5-3D Consortium has been formed, comprised of three key entities that have led the development of RELAP5 for decades, namely Idaho National Laboratory, Naval Nuclear Laboratories, and Information Systems Laboratories. By combining the resources of the three leading laboratories, many improvements can be made in the code, the teams, the collaboration, and the overall product. The consortium eliminates competition for new graduating scientist and engineers, combines and leverages the skills, experience, and talents of the three separate teams, creates new synergies, and develops new opportunities. Ultimately, this will extend the productive lifetime of RELAP5-3D to serve the nuclear industry.
INL
Jan Vermaak
Carlo Parisi
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