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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.
2024
Egemen Kolemen
2022
Tatyana Sizyuk
2018
Jean Paul Allain
2014
Larry R. Baylor & Stephen K. Combs
2010
Alice Ying
2008
Mark Tillack Joseph Minervini
2004
A. Rene RaffrayLance Snead
2002
Gianfranco Federici (ITER Team)
2000
David Petti
1998
John Wesley
1996
Weston M. Stacey, Jr.
1994
Charles Bathke
1992
Douglass E. Post
1990
D-III Design Team
1986
RTNS-II Team; led by C.M. Logan, M.W. Guinan, and D.G. Doran
1984
Christopher Foster & Stanley Milora (team award)
1982
MFTF-B Magnet Team; led by J. Bulmer, C. Henning and T. Kozman
