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
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Getting back to yes: A local perspective on decommissioning, restart, and responsibility
For 45 years, Duane Arnold Energy Center operated in Linn County, Ia., near the town of Palo and just northwest of Cedar Rapids. The facility, owned by NextEra Energy, was the only nuclear power plant in the state.
In August 2020, a historic derecho swept across eastern Iowa with winds approaching 140 miles per hour. Damage to the plant’s cooling towers accelerated a shutdown that had already been planned, and the facility entered decommissioning soon after, with its fuel removed in October of that year. Iowa’s only nuclear plant had gone off line.
Today the national energy landscape looks very different than it did just six short years ago. Electricity demand is rising rapidly as data centers, artificial intelligence infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and electrification expand across the country. Reliable, carbon-free baseload power has become increasingly valuable. In that context, Linn County has approved the rezoning necessary to support the recommissioning and restart of Duane Arnold and is actively supporting NextEra’s efforts to secure the remaining state and federal approvals.
Technical Session|Sponsored by ANSTD
Wednesday, November 18, 2020|4:50–6:30PM EST
Session Chair:
Jorge Navarro
Alternate Chair:
Paolo F. Venneri
Session Organizer:
Jeffrey C. King
Staff Producer:
Ashley Jiminian (American Nuclear Society)
To access the session recording, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Register NowLog In
To access paper attachments, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Overview of High-Performance Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket Propulsion System
Jimmy Allen (Dynetics), John Foster (University of Michigan), Nicholas Smith (Idaho National Laboratory), Florent Heidet (Argonne National Laboratory), Michael G. Houts (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Mark Patterson (Southern Research), Michael Johns (Southern Research)
Paper
Preliminary Parametric Studies of a High Performance Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket System
C. M. McSwain (University of Tennessee), Darrin Leer (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Ethan Fisher (Mississippi State University), Rittu S. Raju (University of Michigan), Michael G. Houts (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Michael G. Jarrett (Argonne National Laboratory), Florent Heidet (Argonne National Laboratory), Jonathan T. Gates (Texas A&M University)
Initial Neutronics Modeling of a Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket Engine using MCNP Code
C M. McSwain (University of Tennessee), Darrin Leer (University of North Carolina), Jonathan T. Gates (Texas A&M University), Ethan D. Fisher (Mississippi State University), Michael G. Houts (NASA MSFC), Rittu S. Raju (University of Michigan)
CNTR: Explanation of Propellant Flow and Description of Initial Experiments
Jonathan T. Gates (Argonne National Laboratory), Darrin Leer (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Rittu S. Raju (University of Michigan), Florent Heidet (Argonne National Laboratory), Michael G. Houts (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Thomas J. Godfroy (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), C. M. McSwain (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Ethan D. Fisher (NASA)
To join the conversation, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
