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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
From operator to entrepreneur: David Garcia applies outage management lessons
David Garcia
If ComEd’s Zion plant in northern Illinois hadn’t closed in 1998, David Garcia might still be there, where he got his start in nuclear power as an operator at age 24.
But in his ninth year working there, Zion closed, and Garcia moved on to a series of new roles—including at Wisconsin’s Point Beach plant, the corporate offices of Minnesota’s Xcel Energy, and on the supplier side at PaR Nuclear—into an on-the-job education that he augmented with degrees in business and divinity that he sought later in life.
Garcia started his own company—Waymaker Resource Group—in 2014. Recently, Waymaker has been supporting Holtec’s restart project at the Palisades plant with staffing and analysis. Palisades sits almost exactly due east of the fully decommissioned Zion site on the other side of Lake Michigan and is poised to operate again after what amounts to an extended outage of more than three years. Holtec also plans to build more reactors at the same site.
For Garcia, the takeaway is clear: “This industry is not going away. Nuclear power and the adjacent industries that support nuclear power—and clean energy, period—are going to be needed for decades upon decades.”
In July, Garcia talked with Nuclear News staff writer Susan Gallier about his career and what he has learned about running successful outages and other projects.
Kazumi Ozawa, Sosuke Kondo, Tatsuya Hinoki, Kouichi Jimbo, Akira Kohyama
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 871-875
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Fusion Materials | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A796
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The microstructural evolution of SiC/SiC composites after Si2+ with/without He+ ion irradiation was studied using transmission electron microscopy. The temperature, displacement damage level, and He/dpa ratio were 1273/1673K, 10/100dpa and 0/60appmHe/dpa, respectively. In 10dpa single-ion irradiation, no cavity was detected at 1273 and 1673K. But cavities were observed locally at 1673K, 100dpa. In dual-ion irradiation, cavities were observed at 1673K, 100dpa. Helium bubbles (d<5nm) were formed densely on {111} faulted planes in the fiber and matrix. And lens-shaped cavities (major axis 2a=20-50nm) were formed on grain boundaries in the matrix. The swelling by cavities in CVI matrix is about 0.5% at 80dpa and 0.7% at 130dpa. Loss of PyC layer beneath the irradiated surface was observed (single-ion: about 500nm, dual-ion: about 1 m). And the thickness of the PyC layer expands after single/dual-ion irradiation (single-ion: 12%, dual-ion: 29% increase). But Tyranno-SA/PyC/CVI composites shows showed better microstructural stability than expected at 1673K.
