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Getting back to yes: A local perspective on decommissioning, restart, and responsibility
For 45 years, Duane Arnold Energy Center operated in Linn County, Ia., near the town of Palo and just northwest of Cedar Rapids. The facility, owned by NextEra Energy, was the only nuclear power plant in the state.
In August 2020, a historic derecho swept across eastern Iowa with winds approaching 140 miles per hour. Damage to the plant’s cooling towers accelerated a shutdown that had already been planned, and the facility entered decommissioning soon after, with its fuel removed in October of that year. Iowa’s only nuclear plant had gone off line.
Today the national energy landscape looks very different than it did just six short years ago. Electricity demand is rising rapidly as data centers, artificial intelligence infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and electrification expand across the country. Reliable, carbon-free baseload power has become increasingly valuable. In that context, Linn County has approved the rezoning necessary to support the recommissioning and restart of Duane Arnold and is actively supporting NextEra’s efforts to secure the remaining state and federal approvals.
Melanie A. Kulesz, Kenneth B. Kahn, Sama Bilbao y León (Virginia Commonwealth Univ), invited
Proceedings | 16th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM 2017) | Charlotte, NC, April 9-13, 2017 | Pages 793-799
As part of a research project funded by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nuclear Energy University Program (NU-12-VA-VCU_-0205-01), a study was undertaken to examine the best practice themes of Educate, Communicate, and Affiliate for underlying successful branding/re-branding campaigns. These themes were specifically examined to see if people’s perception of the nuclear fuel cycle could be influenced in a positive direction. The Educate theme corresponded with five key messages on nuclear energy, which were incorporated into an infographic. Communicate was enacted using the infographic, thereby assessing the role and impact of an infographic in influencing public perception of the nuclear fuel cycle. The testing campaign employed the use of the Net Promoter Score, which represents the blue ribbon standard most companies use to measure and understand customer’s preferences and experiences. The Net Promoter Score methodology includes segmenting a particular group of individuals in detractors, passives, or promoters. A baseline Net Promoter Score to measure energy customer’s preference for nuclear energy was initially established in a pilot test conducted by a team of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Executive MBA students. This team of students also developed the first version of the survey. Replication of results was undertaken by the research team using a survey methodology with a nationwide US sample.
Preliminary results provide strong evidence that use of an infographic can improve opinions to support, recommend, choose, and prefer nuclear energy relative to other energy sources. These results and implications are presented and discussed.
