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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.
The ESCC is responsible for the preparation and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards as well as standards-related guidance documents, guidance standards, and technical reports supporting all aspects of nuclear power plant and non‐reactor nuclear facility siting, environmental assessment, environmental management, environmental monitoring, and the categorization and evaluation of natural phenomena hazards at these public and private sector nuclear facilities.
Many of the ESCC standards presently support the siting and environmental needs of the civilian nuclear industry and the Department of Energy (DOE) in meeting 10 CFR 50, 10 CFR 51 and 10 CFR 52 licensing requirements and assisting with compliance to 40 CFR enabling regulations associated with the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and National Environmental Policy Act. The ANS Standards Committee Procedures Manual for Consensus Committees shall be used to guide the activities of this consensus committee.
The ESCC oversees the following 5 subcommittees:
Matthew BarnettWashington State Department of Health
ESCC Org Chart_Current.pdf
Last modified March 10, 2026, 7:36am CDT
