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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.
J. E. Klein
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | July-August 2005 | Pages 59-62
Technical Paper | Tritium Science and Technology - Tritium Processing, Transportation, and Storage | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A880
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new diffuser/permeator design has been proposed for a new Savannah River Site tritium project. The use of a single heaterwell in the center of the shell had raised concerns that the Pd/Ag coils may be shielding radiative heat transfer to the walls thus reducing Pd/Ag tube temperatures near the shell below the recommended minimum operating temperature.The diffuser was fitted with thermocouples to measure shell temperatures during testing. Tests were run with the shell evacuated, helium Feed flows of 0, 1000, and 2000 sccm; Bleed pressures ranging from 0 to 203 kPa, and heater temperatures of 650, 675, and 700°C. Hydrogen permeation tests were run with two hydrogen/helium mixtures and Feed rates to simulate 1st and 2nd stage diffuser operations.Approximately 20 hours were required to bring the diffuser from ambient temperature to steady-state conditions. For tests with a heater temperature of 675°C and no hydrogen flow, helium flow rate and pressure had little impact on the measured shell temperatures, the thermowell temperature, roughly 415°C, and altered heater output by only 11 watts. Conversely, controlling the thermowell temperature to 415°C during hydrogen permeation tests increased heater power output, lowered heater temperature, and increased shell temperatures. The tests showed the diffuser can perform its intended function with reasonable assurance that the Pd/Ag tubes were within the recommended temperature range.