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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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|Panel|Sponsored by RPD|Cosponsored by THD
Monday, November 16, 2020|1:00–3:10PM EST
Session Chair:
Florent Heidet (ANL)
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Pavel V. Tsvetkov
Staff Producer:
Jay Bogardus (American Nuclear Society)
This panel will provide an update on the status of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) project. The VTR is a sodium-cooled fast test reactor being developed with support from the DOE-NE and could become critical as early as 2026. It will provide accelerated irradiation testing capabilities to the entire advanced reactor community through allowing flexible testing under a multitude of environments. During this panel, multiple stakeholders will share their perspectives on the project, including views from the DOE, NRC, GEH, and national laboratories. This panel will also offer an opportunity for attendees to ask their questions.
Tom O'Connor
DOE-NE
Bob Hill
ANL
Amy Cubbage
US NRC
Steve Hayes
INL
Eric Loewen
GE
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