ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
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
Tuesday, October 7, 2025|8:00–9:40AM CDT|Salon B
Session Chair:
Nathan Capps
:
Alternate Chair:
Juri Stuckert
To access paper attachments, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Register NowLog In
Introducing HEPHAESTUS: A Furnace for Dry Storage Testing of Spent Nuclear Fuel at Studsvik's Hot Cells
8:00–8:25AM CDT
Felix Boldt (BGZ Company for Interim Storage), Peter Kaufholz (BGZ Company for Interim Storage), Timo Neikes (BGZ Company for Interim Storage), Mathias Segerberg (Studsvik Nuclear AB), Maik Stuke (BGZ Company for Interim Storage), Pia Tejland (Studsvik Nuclear AB)
Paper
Design of an Out-of-Pile Experimental Facility to Demonstrate Feasibility of In Situ Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Nuclear Fuels Under Irradiation
8:25–8:50AM CDT
Trevor Parker (Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)), Jacob P. Gorton (ORNL), Dillon Cranford (ORNL), Daniel C. Sweeney (ORNL), Padhraic L. Mulligan (ORNL), Christian M. Petrie (ORNL), Richard H. Howard (ORNL), Kenneth Cooper (ORNL)
An Instrumented Irradiation Capsule Design to Measure Thermal Conductivity in Miniature UO2 Specimens
8:50–9:15AM CDT
Jacob P. Gorton (ORNL), Trevor Parker (Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)), Kara M. Godsey (ORNL), Dillon Cranford (ORNL), Padhraic L. Mulligan (ORNL), Richard H. Howard (ORNL), Nathan Capps (ORNL), Christian M. Petrie (ORNL), Andrew T. Nelson (ORNL)
Development of an In Situ Fission Gas Release Instrument for Fuel Sample Irradiations in the High Flux Isotope Reactor
9:15–9:40AM CDT
Padhraic L. Mulligan (ORNL), Jacob P. Gorton (ORNL), Trevor Parker (ORNL), Dillon Cranford (ORNL), N. Dianne B. Ezell (ORNL), Richard H. Howard (ORNL), Christian M. Petrie (ORNL), Kara M. Godsey (ORNL), Nathan Capps (ORNL), Jason Harp (ORNL)
To join the conversation, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
