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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
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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.
B. W. N. Fitzpatrick, J. W. Davis, A. A. Haasz, A. G. McLean, P. C. Stangeby, S. L. Allen, R. Ellis, W. P. West
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 2 | October 2010 | Pages 603-612
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10887
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Carbon-based codeposits formed in carbon-containing fusion devices have the potential to dominate tritium retention in the torus. One of the tritium removal techniques currently being studied is thermo-oxidation, which is unique in its ability to remove tritium from codeposits without mechanical intervention in the torus and in its ability to remove tritium from codeposits in tile gaps and shaded areas. In preparation for an oxidation experiment planned to be performed in DIII-D, we have investigated the potential collateral effects of thermo-oxidation on DIII-D in-vessel components. Laboratory oxidation experiments were performed at 2 Torr ([approximately]270 Pa) and 15 Torr ([approximately]2 kPa) O2 pressure and temperatures in the range 100 to 350°C (373 to 623 K) for 2 to 8 h. After oxidation, components were examined for visual or mechanical change, and when appropriate, mass changes were also obtained. In some cases, optical diagnostics were also performed. The specimens were mostly spare/surplus components and spanned a wide variety of materials and functions, e.g., cryopump components; structural, mechanical, and diagnostic components; and fast-wave antennas. The effect of oxidation was found to be negligible for nearly all DIII-D components and materials tested.