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Conference Spotlight
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.
March 17, 2021|12:00–1:30PM (1:00–2:30PM EDT)
ANS Members Only
ANS Members, please log in to watch this webinar.
Radioactive waste is handled responsibly, safely, and securely around the world, though delays in taking the final step toward disposal of high-level wastes is still, generally, decades away. Important progress is being made in several countries, in particular Finland, Sweden, and France are moving forward towards the realization of such disposal facilities and countries like Belgium and Switzerland are following closely behind. Most other countries are trailing by more than two decades, as only generic designs for such disposal facilities are available, and the process towards the identification of a disposal site is yet to be started (or restarted).
This webinar provides an overview of the current progress and status of such disposal programs globally and the technical, socio-political, and regulatory timelines associated with such disposal facilities. The webinar also address the more recent considerations for a more integrated waste management policy seeking to optimize the overall management of all radioactive wastes requiring disposal.
Panelists
John Kessler, J Kessler and Associates
Luc Van den Durpel, Nuclear-21
Moderator
Rodney J. McCullum, Nuclear Energy Institute
Presentation Slides
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