Duane Arnold Energy Center

NRC Preparing to Leverage Current Regulatory Tools to Restart a Shuttered Plant

The Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC), permanently ceased operations on August 10, 2020, after more than 45 years of commercial operation. In early 2025, NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC (NextEra), the licensee for DAEC expressed an interest in returning the plant to an operational status and resuming commercial operation.

To restart DAEC, NextEra would need to (1) gain NRC approval to restore the licensing basis of the plant to an operational status; (2) return plant components to a status that supports safe operation; and (3) make any upgrades necessary to meet the proposed operational licensing basis.

NRC staff will carefully review the regulatory and licensing documents for the plant, inspect new and restored components necessary to operate safely, and continue ongoing oversight to ensure sufficiency of all plant systems and programs.

To provide oversight of this effort, the NRC has established the Duane Arnold Energy Center Restart Panel, which will guide the staff efforts to review, inspect, and confirm that DAEC is ready to be returned to an operating facility. The Restart Panel will help coordinate licensing, inspection, and oversight activities across the agency to ensure that all aspects of the DAEC restart project are meeting the NRC’s safety, security, and environmental requirements.

Licensing Actions Under Review

The licensee for the Duane Arnold Energy Center, NextEra, is pursuing several licensing actions to restore the operational licensing basis for the plant.

Restart Environmental Review

The DAEC potential reauthorization of power operations project is undergoing a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review. NEPA requires Federal agencies to assess the reasonably foreseeable environmental effects (impacts) of proposed Federal actions, such as the licensing actions under review to support potential restart of DAEC, prior to making decisions. Therefore, the proposed Federal actions for the potential reauthorization of power operations at DAEC require a NEPA review.

Level of NEPA Review

A proposed Federal action can involve one of three different levels of analysis, depending on the significance of a proposed Federal action's potential effects on the environment: Categorical Exclusion (CATEX); Environmental Assessment (EA); and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The NRC staff, after reviewing the criteria in 10 CFR 51.20, 10 CFR 51.21, and 10 CFR 51.22, as well as the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Office Instruction LIC-203, Revision 4, “Procedural Guidance for Preparing Categorical Exclusions, Environmental Assessments, and Considering Environmental Issues,” (ML20016A379) has determined that an EA, with a draft comment period is the appropriate level of NEPA review for the DAEC potential reauthorization of power operations project. Based on the EA, the NRC takes one of following two actions:

• Preparation of a "finding of no significant impact" (FONSI): If the action is determined to not have a significant impact on the environment, the NRC will prepare a FONSI as specified in 10 CFR 51.32; or
• Preparation of an EIS: If the NRC determines that the proposed action has the potential to significantly impact the environment, the NRC will prepare an EIS.

For the DAEC potential reauthorization of power operations project, the EA will identify the key environmental impacts of the project and, if no significant impacts are found, a FONSI will be prepared.

Audit

As part of the NRC’s environmental review, the staff will conduct an environmental regulatory audit. The audit is conducted during the environmental review with the intent to gain understanding, verify information, and identify information required to support the basis of the licensing or regulatory decisions necessary for the reauthorization of power operations at DAEC.

Contacts

Kim Conway (Kimberly.Conway@nrc.gov)
Kevin Folk (Kevin.Folk@nrc.gov)

Upcoming Activities

• Conduct environmental regulatory audit
• Draft EA and Draft FONSI or EIS
• Public comment period on Draft EA and Draft FONSI or EIS
• Final EA and FONSI or EIS

Inspection Activities

Numerous NRC inspections and other oversight activities are planned to assess NextEra’s readiness to restart the DAEC plant. In support of this effort the NRC established Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 2562, “Light-Water Reactor Inspection Program for Restart of Reactor Facilities Following Permanent Cessation of Power Operations.” The purpose of IMC 2562 is to:

• Establish oversight policies, requirements, and guidance for transitioning from a decommissioning reactor facility to an operational power reactor facility subject to the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP).
• Detail the requirements for the inspection activities and operational plant readiness to provide reasonable assurance for safe operations following reactivation of an operating license.
• Ensure other federal agencies, state and local governments, tribal governments, the public, and other applicable stakeholders are engaged and informed.
  The NRC will assemble a site-specific inspection plan related to the oversight activities necessary to assess the effectiveness of NextEra’s actions related to the potential restart of DAEC in accordance with the NRC’s health, safety, and environmental standards. The series of inspections will provide input for developing an objective and documented basis for any NRC decision to transition DAEC back to the operating reactor inspection program and resume commercial power operations.

Publicly available inspection reports from the activities completed to date related to the efforts to resume power operations at DAEC are listed below:

December 11, 2025 - Duane Arnold Energy Center - Restart Inspection Report 05000331/2025002

January 12, 2026 - Duane Arnold Energy Center - Restart Inspection Report 05000331/2025003

Previous NRC inspection reports from the operational period for DAEC, covering the year 2000 through the shutdown date of August 10, 2020, have been made available for reference on the Search Inspection Reports For Operating Power Reactors tool and filtering for "Duane Arnold", using the "Site/Plant Selection" option.  Note that these inspection reports do not cover all the decommissioning activities completed to date at the site.

To sign up to receive NRC correspondence related to the DAEC decommissioning, potential restart, and inspection activities join the Duane Arnold listserv distribution by filling out the Operating Reactor Correspondence form with your email information.

Public Meetings

The NRC will engage in several pre-submittal interactions with the DAEC staff on various topics related to the potential for restart, and will continue to host public meetings related to the potential for the DAEC to resume power operations throughout the project.

On March 19, 2025, the NRC and NextEra staff held a public meeting to discuss the plan for the potential resumption of power operations at Duane Arnold Energy Center.

Continue to check the NRC Public Meeting Page for information on any additional meetings on the Duane Arnold Restart Project and associated actions.

Additional Activities

• On November 25, 2025, NextEra Energy Duane Arnold (NEDA) submitted an application for order consenting to the direct transfer of the license for the DAEC and its generally licensed ISFSI to consolidate all outstanding ownership interests in the DAEC in NEDA. The request is independent of other restart licensing actions. This application was accepted for formal NRC review on January 5, 2026.
• On January 23, 2025, NextEra provided a notice to the NRC of its intent to pursue subsequent license renewal as governed by 10 CFR 54, "Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants." Additional information regarding the NRC’s subsequent license renewal process can be found on the NRC’s public website under the Reactor License Renewal heading.
• On November 10, 2025, NextEra Energy Duane Arnold submitted an Environmental Report to support the NRC staff’s environmental review for DAEC resumption of power operations.

For additional questions please contact the NRC's Office of Public Affairs at OPA3.Resource@nrc.gov.

1.0 Site Identification

2.0 Site Status Summary

The Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC) is a 1,912 MWt boiling water reactor that began operation in 1974 and is owned and operated by NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC (NextEra).  DAEC had stated its intention to permanently cease power operations in October 2020, but the reactor permanently shutdown on August 10, 2020, when a derecho (a land-based hurricane) damaged non-safety related portions of the plant, including the cooling towers.

By letter dated October 12, 2020, NextEra certified that all fuel had been removed from the reactor.  NextEra submitted the DAEC Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) to the NRC on April 2, 2020.  A PSDAR public meeting was originally scheduled for July 28, 2020, but the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) caused the original meeting to be cancelled.  NRC held an in-person PSDAR public meeting near the plant in Palo, Iowa on September 28, 2021 to obtain public comments on the PSDAR.  The NRC held a virtual PSDAR public meeting on October 6, 2021, for the members of the public that were not comfortable attending an in-person meeting. In the PSDAR, NextEra stated its intention to move all of the spent nuclear fuel into dry cask storage by 2023 and place the plant into SAFSTOR, starting full decommissioning of the facility in 2075. All fuel was placed into dry cask storage within the onsite independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) as of the end of April 2022.  The NRC will continue to provide licensing oversight and inspections of the plant until the plant is completely decommissioned, including inspections of the ISFSI, until the spent fuel is permanently removed from the site and the license is terminated.

Significant Decommissioning Licensing Documents:

• Certification of Permanent Cessation of Power Operations – ML20240A067
• Certification of Permanent Removal of Fuel from the Reactor Vessel – ML20286A317
• Duane Arnold Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) and Site-Specific Decommissioning Cost Estimate (DCE) – ML20094F603
• Defueled Technical Specifications Application and Supplements – ML19261A141, and ML19308A085
• Defueled Technical Specifications Approval – ML20134J104
• Exemption Request to Use the Decommissioning Trust Fund (DTF) for Spent Fuel Management Costs – ML20153A371
• DTF Exemption Approval – ML20164A000

3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues

None

4.0 Estimated Date for Closure

2080

All decommissioning transition licensing actions are complete and the plant has moved into full decommissioning status.