ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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 RARCC is responsible for the preparation and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards as well as standards-related guidance documents, guidance standards, and technical reports supporting the design, operation, maintenance, operator selection and training, and quality requirements for current and future research and test reactors including pulsed critical facilities, reactors used for the production of isotopes for industrial, educational, and medical purposes and current and advanced non-large LWRs. The scope includes but is not limited to: water-cooled and non-water cooled Small Modular Reactors, Generation III+ and IV reactors, and future non-light water cooled/moderated large commercial reactors.
The RARCC standards include but are not limited to the design and operation of the nuclear island, the balance of plant, and other systems within the plant boundary affecting safety and operations. The ANS Standards Committee Procedures Manual for Consensus Committees shall be used to guide the activities of this consensus committee.
The RARCC oversees the following 3 subcommittees:
Last modified March 20, 2026, 8:29am CDT
