- The face of our industry isn’t what you think and Alex Garcia is here to prove that
- Unlikely path led her from Puerto Rico to a job as systems engineer at North Anna
- Curious, fearless, and tenacious, Garcia quickly proving to be a leader and rising star
Exciting and glamourous are not adjectives Alexandra Garcia would use to describe the work she performs each day at North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, Virginia. A more appropriate word would be critical—as she spends her days performing rigorous calculations and detailed assessments that ensure the continued safe operation of the plant. But don’t expect Garcia to tout her own importance—rather expect her to give credit to her colleagues and the nuclear industry.
“Many industries have a lot to learn from nuclear in the way we manage the plant on a daily basis and the way we manage the upgrades and maintenance we perform on the plant,” she says.
A chemical engineer by training, Garcia (who goes by “Alex”) didn’t pursue the normal career path for her degree which would have landed her at a refinery or a food processing plant. Instead, she chose to work at a nuclear power plant, following the road less traveled by way of an internship with Dominion Energy while attending the University of Puerto Rico. When she was offered the position of systems engineer at North Anna, Garcia seized the opportunity to work in an industry about which she knew little, in a city thousands of miles away from home.
Rather than be intimated by the unknown, the nuclear neophyte took on the challenge to discover all she could about the industry and technology.
“When I started learning about the design of nuclear plants and the safety systems and redundancies, it was really eye opening for me,” says Garcia, “the way the plants were designed in the first place – in my opinion is a work of art.”
For two and half years, Garcia was part of a plant systems group responsible for monitoring a critical safety component at North Anna—the plant’s service water system. The service water pond at North Anna is part of the ultimate heat sink for the station. In the unlikely event of a design basis accident, the service water system would be activated to remove heat from containment to the atmosphere.
One of her primary responsibilities involved monitoring the flow losses—or evaporation losses—on the service water system. If the flows aren’t to specification, it could impact the heat transfer capability of the system. She describes the work as tedious, involving simple but rigorous calculations that are documented, peer-checked and recalculated over and over.
“If we make a mistake or become complacent, it could seriously impact the way the heat transfer removal occurs during an emergency. There is so much scrutiny that goes into it and it takes many hours.”
A natural collaborator and leader, Garcia has already made a strong impression during her short tenure with Dominion. A transplant to the Richmond, Virginia area, Garcia quickly established roots to the local community through her participation in Dominion’s HOLA! Hispanic Employee Resource Group. Currently the vice chair of HOLA!, she will take over as chair in January 2019, leading the group in serving Latino communities and contributing to the professional and personal growth of Dominion Energy employees.
Alexandra Garcia and local volunteers supporting relief efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Garcia’s desire to help others, to give back to her community, and to serve a greater purpose is what drove her to mobilize her colleagues and friends and persuade leadership at Dominion Energy to support relief efforts for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck her native island. Orchestrating this effort was no small feat, especially since the plant was in a refueling outage and Garcia was working the overnight shift. But Garcia’s tenacity ultimately paid off.
“In less than a week, we had over 50 Kilowatts of solar panels to send to Puerto Rico,” Garcia proudly recounts.
Garcia traveled to Puerto Rico about two months after the hurricane and stayed a total of six weeks. While there, she helped install the solar panels shipped over by Dominion to be used as microgrids, and she volunteered with a local group near her home town two to three times a week.
“There were some days I was handing out supplies and other days I was just cleaning out the warehouse,” she recounts. “Volunteering isn’t always momentous – sometimes it’s doing a lot of behind the scenes work. But that is as important a job as going out and spending time with the people who are affected because that is what keeps the relief operation going.”
The same humility she expresses when recounting the challenges she faced and overcame in order to help restore some semblance of normalcy for the residents of Puerto Rico is what keeps Garcia grounded as her profile rises at Dominion.
Now a project engineer with North Anna’s Subsequent License Renewal Group, much of her time is spent assessing plant systems, structures and components to identify which ones will likely experience degradation in the next 20 to30 years in order to address potential issues in advance and ensure they are working as if they are brand new.
“It’s a very smart approach to take these issues on so early, because we are telling everyone in our industry and outside of it that our first priority is safety and the proper operation of our plants,” explains Garcia.
Despite these new responsibilities and rising profile, Garcia sees herself as a small player on a larger team working toward an even greater goal.
“The possibility of contributing to the safe and reliable operation of such an awesome piece of equipment is pretty cool.”
