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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
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NRC issues draft EA/FONSI for Duane Arnold restart
Efforts by NextEra Energy to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant as early as 2029 continue to move forward with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's preliminary environmental assessment and determination that the restart would have no significant environmental impacts.
On Thursday, the NRC posted a draft environmental assessment and a finding of no significant impact for the Palo, Iowa, facility; the Federal Register notice was published on Monday. The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing is a cooperating agency on the draft EA, as the DOE is considering providing financial assistance to the restart project.
J. A. Goetz, M. W. Bongard, S. J. Diem, J. K. Peery
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 82 | Number 1 | January-February 2026 | Pages 56-63
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2025.2456893
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pegasus-III is a solenoid-free, low-aspect-ratio spherical tokamak (ST) focused on studying nonsolenoidal plasma initiation techniques. It will be equipped with multiple helicity injection (HI) systems and a 28-GHz gyrotron-based system for electron Bernstein wave (EBW) and electron cyclotron (EC) heating and current drive. Microwave injection can provide heating during HI to reduce losses from resistive dissipation. Microwave heating and current drive techniques are also candidates for noninductive plasma initiation, ramp up, and sustainment on their own. STs are well-suited for EBW heating and current drive because a large volume of the plasma is overdense. During low-density startup, ST plasmas can remain accessible to EC waves for heating and current drive. To aid in the design of this microwave system, a synthetic aperture microwave imaging diagnostic is being fielded for the first exploration of EBW emission measurements from HI-generated plasmas. This diagnostic will be used to identify effective operational windows for EBWs. Modeling using the GENRAY code has been performed to assess the viability of these EBW mode conversion and EC methods. Modeling results indicate that both methods can be successfully used in Pegasus-III plasmas.