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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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Sep 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
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.
Technical Session|Sponsored by FCWMD
Wednesday, October 8, 2025|10:00–11:40AM CDT|Brentwood/Franklin
Session Chair:
Kenneth J. Geelhood
Alternate Chair:
Christopher Van Wert
:
Kurshad Muftuoglu
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Hierarchical Shape Optimization of Nuclear Fuel Assemblies Using Multi-Level Pin to Assembly Analysis in MOOSE
10:00–10:25AM CDT
Jonathan Geymer (NCSU), Muhammad R. Altahhan (NCSU), Max Nezdyur (INL), Lynn Munday (INL), Yousry Y. Azmy (NCSU)
Paper
Fission Gas Release Modeling and Validation with CTF Code for High Energy Fuel RIA Analysis
10:25–10:50AM CDT
Charles Cheron (NCSU), Gregory R. Stehle (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Daniel Torres (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Yixing Sung (Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC), Agustin Abarca (NCSU), Maria N. Avramova (NCSU)
Investigation of Stepwise Power Increase Effects on VVER-440 Fuel Cladding
10:50–11:15AM CDT
Andras S. Vanyi (HUN-REN Centre for Energy Research), Gergely Kustar (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Peter Meszaros (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Viktor Holl (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Zoltan Kato (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Gabor Bona (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant)
Homogenization-Based Softening Model for Fragmented Nuclear Fuel
11:15–11:40AM CDT
Milica Krstovic (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Alessandro Scolaro (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), Mathieu Hursin (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), Paul Van Uffelen (European Commission, JRC)
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