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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.
Gerald Rimpault, Sandra Poumerouly, Johann Lecerf
Nuclear Technology | Volume 181 | Number 1 | January 2013 | Pages 56-67
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 14th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-14) / Thermal Hydraulics; Fission Reactors; Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A15756
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Reactivity effects associated with the mitigation of unprotected loss of flow in sodium fast reactors are being studied to find ways to reduce the potential release of mechanical energy.The studies performed with ERANOS illustrate the importance of cladding removal as well as radial leakage changes during the core slumpdown. Possible arrangements and dispositions are envisioned that would avoid recriticality and hence the possibility of going into severe power excursions.Challenges to be faced by safety studies that would ascertain that no cliff-edge effects occur are then listed.
