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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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August 2025
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From operator to entrepreneur: David Garcia applies outage management lessons
David Garcia
If ComEd’s Zion plant in northern Illinois hadn’t closed in 1998, David Garcia might still be there, where he got his start in nuclear power as an operator at age 24.
But in his ninth year working there, Zion closed, and Garcia moved on to a series of new roles—including at Wisconsin’s Point Beach plant, the corporate offices of Minnesota’s Xcel Energy, and on the supplier side at PaR Nuclear—into an on-the-job education that he augmented with degrees in business and divinity that he sought later in life.
Garcia started his own company—Waymaker Resource Group—in 2014. Recently, Waymaker has been supporting Holtec’s restart project at the Palisades plant with staffing and analysis. Palisades sits almost exactly due east of the fully decommissioned Zion site on the other side of Lake Michigan and is poised to operate again after what amounts to an extended outage of more than three years. Holtec also plans to build more reactors at the same site.
For Garcia, the takeaway is clear: “This industry is not going away. Nuclear power and the adjacent industries that support nuclear power—and clean energy, period—are going to be needed for decades upon decades.”
In July, Garcia talked with Nuclear News staff writer Susan Gallier about his career and what he has learned about running successful outages and other projects.
26th Technology of Fusion Energy Meeting (TOFE 2024)
Kevin Freudenberg is technical director of engineering systems of US ITER, a multi-lab effort funded by U.S. Department of Energy to deliver U.S. contributions to the international ITER project.
In this role, he oversees analysis, central solenoid magnets, design integration, instrumentation and controls, plasma heating systems, vacuum auxiliary and roughing pump systems, the tokamak cooling water system, and the tokamak exhaust processing system. Additionally, he currently serves as interim technical director of plasma diagnostics and fueling systems.
Before joining US ITER in 2007, Kevin gained more than 20 years of experience in the design and analysis of experimental fusion energy research facilities and components and contributed to the engineering design of several facilities and devices.
In 2019, he was elected to the Fusion Technology Standing Committee of IEEE’s Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society and has served as treasurer, sponsorship chair, and general chair for the group’s Symposium on Fusion Energy. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida.
Last modified May 20, 2024, 3:06pm CDT
