The same tech companies that pledged allegiance to wind and solar are now bankrolling America's nuclear comeback—because AI data centers need power that actually works when the sun goes down. The stake for ordinary Americans: the green lobby spent 40 years blocking the only reliable zero-carbon energy source, and it took a private-industry stampede to expose the lie.
Forbes reports that Microsoft has signed a 20-year, $16 billion contract to restart Three Mile Island's Unit 1—yes, the plant whose sister reactor nearly melted down in 1979 and became the poster child for killing nuclear in America. Renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center, it's expected back online in late 2027. Every watt goes to Microsoft's AI data centers, not homes or factories.
Microsoft isn't alone. Every major AI company—Google, Amazon, Meta—has signed at least one nuclear deal in 2026, committing to more than a dozen agreements worth nearly 10 gigawatts of capacity, enough to power roughly 7 million homes. Meta has signed agreements worth up to 6.6 gigawatts. Google struck deals with two nuclear developers plus a separate 1,800-megawatt contract. Amazon put $700 million into X-energy to build up to a dozen small modular reactors. The U.S. and Canada each announced plans to build 10 new reactors in June—the biggest coordinated nuclear push on the continent in decades.
Here's what matters: they're not just buying electricity. They're financing plants directly, succeeding where the federal government and the utility industry failed for two generations. The IAEA's Rafael Mariano Grossi said it plainly: