<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1JI33P_1F24AJoq00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1JI33P_1F24AJoq00" width="800" height="450" >LINN COUNTY, Iowa — More than a decade after Alex Neumann first started working at the Duane Arnold Energy Center, he's back at the Linn County nuclear plant as it prepares for a new chapter.Neumann first came to Duane Arnold in 2011. He started as a non-licensed operator before earning his reactor operator license and eventually becoming a senior reactor operator.He left Duane Arnold after the plant's closure had been announced but before it stopped operating in 2020. Neumann moved to northern Alabama, where he continued working in the nuclear industry with the Tennessee Valley Authority.When the opportunity came to return to Duane Arnold, Neumann said it was one he wanted to take.“I had the opportunity to come back and had to jump on it,” Neumann said.Neumann, who is originally from the Des Moines area, said returning also gives him the chance to be closer to family and friends while taking part in an unusual project, bringing Iowa's only nuclear power plant back into operation.“It's an amazing project, it's an opportunity for us to get together and make Iowa a state that produces nuclear power again, to be involved in every aspect of this is going to be very exciting throughout the process,” Neumann said.Duane Arnold stopped producing electricity in August 2020 after the derecho damaged the facility. The plant had already been scheduled to close later that year.What appeared to be the end of Duane Arnold's decades-long run is now being reversed.NextEra Energy announced plans in 2025 to restart the plant through an agreement with Google. Google agreed to purchase power from Duane Arnold for 25 years, helping support the effort to bring the facility back online.The restart has since moved through several major steps. The Iowa Utilities Commission issued a generating certificate for the project, and NextEra says the major permits associated with bringing the nuclear plant back online have been obtained. Company officials say remaining approvals are largely routine items that come as construction progresses.The federal government is also backing the project. The U.S. Department of Energy approved a loan of up to $1.9 billion to support the restart. NextEra has not disclosed the total price tag but says bringing Duane Arnold back will cost multiple billions of dollars.Work is already underway at the site. NextEra has opened a temporary training center in Hiawatha and started training operators, while Duane Arnold itself has become an active construction site.That's where Neumann comes back into the story.He is now in licensed training to become a senior reactor operator at Duane Arnold, returning to a role similar to the one he held before leaving Iowa.For Neumann, the significance of the project goes beyond his own return. He said having the nuclear industry operating in Iowa again could bring specialized workers and jobs to the state.“It's obviously an important thing, both economically and from a scientific perspective, just to have the industry here in the state and the talent that that's going to bring,” Neumann said.Neumann is also not alone in returning. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly said during a recent visit to Duane Arnold that he was told about half of the workforce expected to come back previously worked at the plant. He said some people are even coming out of retirement to be part of the restart.For Neumann, one moment stands out when he thinks about what's ahead.“I think actually bringing the plant online is going to be a very worthwhile and rewarding thing,” Neumann said. “I think getting to that point where we're right at the end and actually starting up the plant is going to be just an immensely rewarding thing for us to do.”NextEra is targeting late 2028 or early 2029 to bring Duane Arnold back online.</div></body>

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LINN COUNTY, Iowa — More than a decade after Alex Neumann first started working at the Duane Arnold Energy Center, he's back at the Linn County nuclear plant as it prepares for a new chapter. Neumann first came to Duane Arnold in 2011. He started as a non-licensed operator...

Duane Arnold restart brings former operator home

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LINN COUNTY, Iowa — More than a decade after Alex Neumann first started working at the Duane Arnold Energy Center, he's back at the Linn County nuclear pla

Duane Arnold restart brings former operator home

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