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.
Chuck Tesch, Richard Carlson, Roy Michelotti, Mike Rogers, Scott Willms
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | July-August 2005 | Pages 258-261
Technical Paper | Tritium Science and Technology - Tritium Handling Facilities | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A923
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) project was begun in 1978 to develop, design, and demonstrate the technology and safe operation of selected tritium processing systems required for a fusion reactor. In 2001, the US Department of Energy (DOE) determined that TSTA's mission was complete and that the facility should be stabilized.At the completion of the stabilization project in 2003, TSTA was categorized as a radiological facility. Before stabilization was complete, the tritium inventory at TSTA was grouped in the following categories: tritium gas mixed with hydrogen isotopes, tritiated water absorbed on molecular sieve, tritium held up as a hydride on various metals, and tritium held up in process components. For each of these, tritium content was characterized, a path for removal was determined, and the proper disposal package was developed. Hydrogen exchange, calorimetry, direct sampling, pressure/composition/temperature, radiological smear surveys, and controlled regeneration were used to determine the tritium inventory for each category of tritium.After removal, the tritium inventory was either (1) sent to other facilities for reuse processing or (2) buried at the LANL radioactive waste disposal site. One complete experimental system was packaged and transferred to another DOE site for future use. Special burial containers were designed and fabricated for the inventory buried at the LANL radioactive waste disposal site. The project was conducted with low tritium emission to the environment and negligible personnel exposure. After the tritium removal was complete, all remaining hardware and piping were opened and vented; the facility emission was below 1 Ci per day.