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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.
Paula C. Souza, André S. Aguiar, Adino Heimlich, Celso M. F. Lapa, Fernando Lamego
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 12 | December 2021 | Pages 1873-1888
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1846986
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the early days of nuclear energy in Brazil, a reactor named Argonaut, designed at Argonne National Laboratory, reached criticality at the Institute of Nuclear Engineering (IEN). The presence of a nuclear research facility at the campus of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro is still a cause of concern with regard to the radiological safety of the surrounding community, even though this facility has been securely operating for more than 50 years. In addition, the risk premium paid to IEN workers has also been disputed by the National Office of Account Control. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the radiological impact and potential risk from Argonaut reactor accidental releases. A recent accident scenario reassessment concluded that severe physical damage of the core after reactor shutdown should be the emergency situation with the greatest potential risk among feasible postulated accidents. The damage caused by failure of a handling crane dropping concrete shielding covers (each weighing 2.5 tons) on the core would lead to breaking of the aluminum coating and the nuclear fuel plates with their release to the reactor hall. This paper evaluates the short-term effective dose rates by inhalation and plume immersion for workers and members of the public, which would be induced by inventory partial release to the atmosphere. The conclusion is that potential risk remains above 1/10 of the limit of annual dose for workers while it stays below the transient levels for members of the public in unrestricted areas.