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2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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.
Spotlight on National Labs
April 30, 2020|12:00–1:30PM (1:00–2:30PM EDT)
Available to All Users
Learn about Argonne’s storied history and how the lab is supporting key nuclear energy and other initiatives of national and international significance.
From the start, Argonne has been at the forefront of research and innovation. In 1946, as an outgrowth of the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago, Argonne was established as a nuclear engineering, chemistry, and materials laboratory to develop peaceful uses for a revolutionary new source of energy: nuclear power. Today, nearly every commercial reactor in existence owes its development to seminal research conducted at Argonne.
Building on this heritage, Argonne continues its work to advance the safe and sustainable use of nuclear energy and to apply its nuclear technology expertise to current and emerging programs. Argonne supports key U.S. Department of Energy nuclear energy initiatives, including leading the nation’s program for development and demonstration of fast reactor and fuel recycle technologies that promise to improve the affordability of nuclear power, enhancing the assurance of safety and security and minimizing the quantity of radioactive waste.
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