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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.
Zhikun Luo, Zhenyuan Wang, Yangyang Xiao, Xiaofang Wang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 82 | Number 3 | April 2026 | Pages 659-674
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2025.2508587
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the field of laser-plasma interactions, proton radiography has become a key diagnostic technique for high-energy density and transient electromagnetic fields that typically relies on the deflection of proton beams due to the Lorentz force to obtain the information. However, in regions of higher-density plasma, the effects of scattering on the deflection of the probing proton beam have not been thoroughly studied, limiting the application of proton radiography in these environments.
This study presents a theoretical and simulation-based approach to quantifying the effects of plasma scattering and electromagnetic field deflection. We introduce a new method for calculating the path integral of the electric and magnetic field in consideration of plasma scattering. This method requires knowledge of the plasma density, and the results remain accurate enough even when the input density information deviates by 50%. The calculation also maintains good accuracy when the detection distance away from the target rear surface changes. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the effects of scattering on proton diagnostic deflection and provide theoretical guidance for the application of proton radiography in higher-density plasma regions.