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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.
Domenico Abate, Giuseppe Marchiori, Matteo Bonotto, Roberto Cavazzana
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 82 | Number 3 | April 2026 | Pages 717-729
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2025.2521596
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The electromagnetic response of the toroidal conducting structures surrounding the plasma of the RFX-mod2 experiment is investigated during the fast termination of a high-current reversed field pinch plasma discharge. The plasma equilibrium is self-consistently computed for each time instant, including the effect of the eddy currents. These are evaluated in the passive conductors together with the related electromagnetic forces. The magnetic fields at the sensor positions are also evaluated.
A comparative analysis of the plasma dynamics between the RFX-mod2 and its predecessor, RFX-mod, is conducted by isolating the electromagnetic contributions from each component of the system, including the plasma, active coils, and eddy currents. During fast termination, eddy currents up to 6 kA are induced in the equipotential cage conductors of the RFX-mod2, leading to localized magnetic field perturbations at the inner radius of the machine.
The global electromagnetic response of the passive structures suggests that RFX-mod2 is likely to exhibit faster horizontal shift during fast termination compared to the previous configuration. These findings provide critical insights into the behavior of high-current plasma discharges and the influence of passive structures on macroscopic plasma stability.