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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 YMG|Cosponsored by ETWDD, OPD
Wednesday, November 18, 2020|2:40–4:20PM EST
Session Chair:
Hilary Lane (NEI)
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Timothy M. Crook
Staff Producer:
Dan Goldberg (American Nuclear Society)
The NRC regulates 31 research and test reactors (RTRs), many of which are located on college or university campuses. Because of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, many campuses temporarily closed, also placing the reactor in a secure shutdown mode, some for extended periods of time. However, select facilities continued to operate throughout the pandemic to meet “Critical Infrastructure” needs, as identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. At the start of the pandemic, the Test, Research and Training Reactor (TRTR) organization along with NEI has been hosting routine calls with stakeholders for industry benchmarking, sharing of best practices, and to discuss generic areas where regulatory relief would be needed across the fleet. This panel will discuss the operational and regulatory response from the RTR fleet, as well as the unique transition towards opening campuses for the Fall 2020 semester.
Clive Townsend
Purdue Univ.
Les Foyto
Univ. of Missouri-Columbia
Edward Lau
MIT
Tom Newton
National Institute of Standards and Technology
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