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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
F. C. Robertshaw, R. K. Betts, D. E. Conner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 28 | Number 1 | April 1967 | Pages 20-33
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE67-A18663
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The results of efforts to use plasma-spheroidized UO2 particles in the preparation of a UO2-nickel-chromium alloy cermet fuel plate are described. Mechanical property data have been obtained permitting property comparisons between the plate containing plasma-spheroidized fuel and other types of fueled and unfueled plates. The plate containing spherical fuel possesses significantly better ductility and somewhat more consistent properties than other fuel plates tested. The results of an irradiation experiment with the plate containing spheroidized fuel show its performance to be equivalent to the best of those for which data have been published; however, further testing is required to establish whether a definite superiority exists.
