Another shuttered nuclear power plant is getting new life, thanks to Big Tech
Key Takeaways
- Google is reviving the mothballed Duane Arnold Energy Center, a 615MW nuclear plant in Iowa, via a 25-year agreement with NextEra Energy.
- The primary motivation is to secure a large-scale, carbon-free, 24/7 power source for Google's growing AI data centers.
- The plant is scheduled to restart operations in 2029, marking the first time the US will attempt to bring a mothballed nuclear plant back online.
- This move follows similar efforts by other tech companies, such as Microsoft's plan to revive a reactor at Three Mile Island.
- Google considers restarting existing nuclear facilities the fastest way to meet immediate, large-scale power demands for AI expansion.
Google plans to revive the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a 615MW nuclear plant in Iowa that ceased operations in 2020, by entering into a 25-year agreement with NextEra Energy to purchase its future electricity output. The company states it is enabling the investment and covering production costs to ensure the plant can restart, with the Central Iowa Power Cooperative taking any surplus power. This initiative is part of a larger trend where tech giants are turning to nuclear energy as a reliable, carbon-free source to power their rapidly expanding AI data centers, especially as traditional grids face increasing strain. The Duane Arnold plant is slated to resume operation in 2029, though restarting a mothballed US nuclear facility is an unprecedented undertaking. Google views this as the 'fastest path to unlock large-scale nuclear power' for near-term AI growth, even as it simultaneously invests in developing next-generation reactor designs.
