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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
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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.
I. E. Boitsov, S. K. Grishechkin, S. V. Zlatoustovskiy, A. A. Yukhimchuk
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | July-August 2005 | Pages 609-612
Technical Paper | Tritium Science and Technology - Materials Interaction and Permeation | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A999
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The paper presents results of tritium-structural materials interaction modeling by simultaneous exposure to radiogenic helium-3 and hydrogen (both dissolved and external). This method of synergetic effect of radiogenic helium-3 and hydrogen is a radiation-safe technique to study the tritium impact on mechanical properties of structural materials. Applicability of the method is illustrated by technique and research results on the impact of high-pressure hydrogen (80MPa), helium-3 (concentration ~140appm) and their synergetic (hydrogen+3He) effects on mechanical properties of CrNi40MoCuTiAl alloy in temperature range from 20 to 600°C. It has been shown that joint effect of radiogenic helium-3 and hydrogen on mechanical properties of alloy can not be represented as the result of a simple summation of helium and hydrogen embrittlement. Proposed technique of synergetic impact of radiogenic helium-3 and hydrogen allows more correct simulation and investigation in the tritium impact on mechanical properties of materials than individual research in helium or hydrogen embrittlement.
