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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
K. Tomlinson, C. T. Seagle, H. Huang, G. E. Smith, J. L. Taylor, R. R. Paguio
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 73 | Number 2 | March 2018 | Pages 139-148
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1387449
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A measurement instrument utilizing dual, chromatic, confocal, distance sensors has been jointly developed by General Atomics and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for thickness and flatness measurement of target components used in dynamic materials properties (DMP) experiments on the SNL Z-Machine (Z). Compared to previous methods used in production of these types of targets, the tool saves time and yields a 4× reduction in thickness uncertainty which is one of the largest sources of error in equation of state measurements critical to supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration Stockpile Stewardship program and computer modeling of high energy density experiments. It has numerous differences from earlier instruments operating on the dual confocal sensor principle to accommodate DMP components including larger lateral travel, longer working distance, ability to measure flatness in addition to thickness, built-in thickness calibration standards for quickly checking calibration before and after each measurement, and streamlined operation. Thickness and flatness of 0.2- to 3.3-mm-thick sections of diamond-machined copper and aluminum can be measured to submicron accuracy. Sections up to 6 mm thick can be measured with as-yet undetermined accuracy. Samples must have one surface which is flat to within 300 µm, lateral dimensions of no more than 50 ×50 mm, and height less than 40 mm.