ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
Toshihiko Yamanishi, Hideki Kakiuchi, Hiroshi Tauchi, Tokuhiro Yamamoto, Ichiro Yamamoto
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 4 | May 2020 | Pages 430-438
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1716454
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of discussions on tritiated water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FD-NPS) was carried out. A large amount of contaminated water has been generated in FD-NPS. Radioisotopes in the contaminated water have been removed except tritium, and thus, tritiated water has been left and stored. As of March 2019, 1 126 500 m3 of tritiated water has been stored in tanks. The average tritium concentration in the tritiated water is 1000 Bq/cm3.
Various options for handling the tritiated water, such as discharge into the sea, geosphere injection, underground burial, and vapor or hydrogen release with and without pretreatment, were discussed on the basis that there is no scientific impact on people. Through the discussions, 11 options for handling tritiated water were summarized. At the same time, some experimental tests of tritium separation (with small-scale and/or full-scale component test stands) were also carried out. As a result, it was concluded that the tested separation technologies could not yet be applied to the case of FD-NPS. No selection from the 11 options has yet been recommended, and further discussions for the tritiated water have continued with public hearings.