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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.
T. Nishitani, K. Kondo, S. Ohira, T. Yamanishi, M. Sugimoto, T. Hayashi, K. Ochiai
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 2 | September 2015 | Pages 326-330
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-930
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A neutron source for material and component tests is an essential tool for the DEMO reactor development. An accelerator-based neutron source such as IFMIF is regarded as the most promising one in Japan and the EU. The construction plan of IFMIF is still open due to the influence of the large cost overrun of ITER procurements. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has a plan of a neutron source for material and component tests using an IFMIF/EVEDA prototype accelerator and a lithium test loop for the IFMIF target facility. Expected performances of three options; 9 MeV and upgrading to 26 or 40 MeV of deuteron beam, are discussed. At the back plate position of the target, 1.5, 14, and 25 dpa/fpy are expected for 9, 26, and 40 MeV case, respectively. The option of 40 MeV is desirable, however, the option of 26 MeV is acceptable for blanket functional tests and material tests.
