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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.
H. Seufert, D. Stegemann
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 28 | Number 2 | May 1967 | Pages 277-285
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE67-A17478
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for the measurement of absolute 238U capture rates is described. The principle is based upon the fact that 243Am and 239U decay via 239Np into 239Pu. The α disintegration rate of 243Am is determined absolutely by low geometry α-particle counting. From this, the absolute 239Np disintegration rate follows directly, which is measured by the 106-keV γ-x-ray coincidence technique. Therefore, the explicit knowledge of detector efficiency and decay-scheme data is not necessary, and also radiochemical separation is avoided. The absolute 238U capture rate can then be obtained from the known 239Np activity. The γ-x-ray self-attenuation within thick uranium foils is treated quantitatively and an optimum foil thickness is derived. Special attention has been given to the reduction and correction of background due to fission-product γ activity. A detailed error analysis shows an overall accuracy of about 1% for the absolute 239Np disintegration rate including γ attenuation effects within the foils. To ascertain the reliability of low-geometry α calibration, comparison was made with the α-γ coincidence method. Agreement was found within the error limits of 1%.
