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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 IRD
Tuesday, November 11, 2025|10:15AM–12:00PM EST|Room 5
Session Chair:
Igor Jovanovic
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Lei R. Cao
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Alternative Processes for Fabrication of Irradiation Targets from Aqueous Solutions
10:15–10:35AM EST
Farnam Pournia (University of Tennessee Knoxville), Mikayla Duggan (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Paper
Radiological Design and Planning for the Radioisotope Processing Facility
10:35–10:55AM EST
William Kirkland (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Hermilo Hernandez Noyola (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Mario R. Naranjo (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Justin Griswold (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Microfluidic Determination of Molybdenum (VI) Solvent Extraction Kinetics
10:55–11:15AM EST
Brandon L. Williams (University of Nevada Las Vegas), Michael A. Brown (Argonne National Laboratory), Art Gelis (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Alexander Heifetz (Argonne National Laboratory)
Analysis of Improved 232U Production Through Modification of Neutron Flux Spectra
11:15–11:35AM EST
Michael Divittorio (Virginia Commonwealth University), Darby Walker (Virginia Commonwealth University), Zeyun Wu (Virginia Commonwealth University), Braden Goddard (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Development of a dry ice cooled experimental capability for samples under gamma irradiation
11:35–11:55AM EST
Candace C. Davison (Penn State University), Amanda M. Johnsen (Penn State University), Zachary V. Horn (Penn State University)
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