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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
Jan 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 OPD
Wednesday, November 12, 2025|10:15AM–12:00PM EST|Room 4
Session Chair:
William N. Mann
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Keith J. Drudy
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Market informed Technoeconomic Assessment for Nuclear Integrated Hydrogen Production in US Gulf Coast
10:15–10:35AM EST
Wen-Chi Cheng (Idaho National Laboratory), Nahuel Guaita (Idaho National Laboratory), Maria Alejandra Herrera d. Reyes (Idaho National Laboratory), Kathleen P. Sweeney (Idaho National Laboratory)
Paper
Evaluating the Benefits of Nuclear-Data Center Tight Integration: Enhancing Plant Utilization via Heat-Driven Absorption Cooling
10:35–10:55AM EST
So-Bin Cho (Argonne National Laboratory), Md Akhlak Bin Aziz (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Ben Lindley (University of Wisconsin Madison), Timothy P. Grunloh (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Caleb S. Brooks (University of Illinois), Nicolas E. Stauff (Argonne National Laboratory)
Commissioners' Voting Efficiency at the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
10:55–11:15AM EST
Yue Jiang (The Breakthrough Institute), Adam Stein (The Breakthrough Institute), Deric Tilson (The Breakthrough Institute)
Economic Potential of Nuclear Power for e-Fuels in Transportation Sector
11:15–11:35AM EST
Kwang Hoon Baek (Argonne National Laboratory), Ram Vijayagopal (Argonne National Laboratory), Amgad Elgowainy (Argonne National Laboratory)
Market and Economic Potential of Nuclear Energy for Industrial Applications in U.S.
11:35–11:55AM EST
Adarsh Bafana (Argonne National Laboratory), Neeraj Hanumante (Argonne National Laboratory), Amgad Elgowainy (Argonne National Laboratory)
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