{"slug": "google-s-revived-nuclear-power-plant-gets-1-9b-loan-from-us-government", "title": "Google's revived nuclear power plant gets $1.9B loan from US Government", "summary": "NextEra Energy received a $1.9 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to refurbish the shuttered Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa, which Google agreed last October to revive as a power source for AI data centers. The loan is the second of its kind, following a $1 billion DOE loan to Constellation Energy to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island, and NextEra CEO John Ketchum said 50 megawatts will be set aside for the local power cooperative, covering 18% of Iowa's demand growth since 2021. The plant, idle since a 2020 rainstorm, is scheduled to restart in 2029 with capacity rising 14 megawatts to 615 megawatts, as new data centers are expected to nearly triple the sector's electricity demand by 2035.", "body_md": "Last October, Google said it would bring an Iowa nuclear power plant [back from the dead](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/29/google-to-bring-shuttered-nuclear-power-plant-back-from-the-dead/). Now the facility’s owner, NextEra Energy, has received a $1.9 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to finance the refurbishment.\n\nThe sizable loan is the second of its kind, suggesting that the Trump administration views revived nuclear power as a key source of electricity for tech companies seeking to power their AI data centers. Last year, the Department of Energy [extended a $1 billion loan](https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/18/trump-doe-gives-microsoft-partner-1b-loan-to-restart-three-mile-island-reactor/) to Constellation Energy to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island.\n\nJames Danly, Deputy Secretary of Energy, said that the Iowa power plant’s restart in 2029 will “drive down electricity costs,” though he did not explain how. Just 50 megawatts will be set aside for the local power cooperative, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said during an [earnings call](https://www.investor.nexteraenergy.com/~/media/Files/N/NEE-IR/reports-and-fillings/quarterly-earnings/2025/Q3%202025/Final_Q3%202025%20Script%20vF.pdf) last year. That capacity would cover 18% of Iowa’s demand growth since 2021, the year before ChatGPT was released.\n\nGoogle is [reportedly](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-looks-to-build-up-to-six-data-centers-near-nuclear-power-site-in-linn-county-iowa/) looking to build up to six data centers near the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which hasn’t operated since 2020 when an intense rainstorm damaged the power plant. Rather than repair it, NextEra decided to mothball it. At the time, cheap natural gas was flooding the market, making nuclear power [economically unappealing](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/what-does-it-take-restore-nuclear-power-plant/820831/).\n\nA lot has changed in the last six years, though. After decades of little growth in demand, the sudden rise of AI coupled with broader electrification of the economy meant that utilities and power providers were suddenly scrambling to find new generating sources of electricity. New data centers are expected to [nearly triple](https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/01/data-center-energy-demand-forecasted-to-soar-nearly-300-through-2035/) the sector’s electricity demand by 2035.\n\nShuttered nuclear power plants are becoming one of the tech industry’s favorite choices to quickly provide clean, firm power.\n\nMicrosoft signed a deal with Constellation Energy two years ago to [restart a reactor at Three Mile Island](https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/20/microsoft-taps-three-mile-island-nuclear-plant-to-power-ai/) that last operated in 2019. The reactor is scheduled to restart in 2028 and generate 835 megawatts. \n\nAnother facility in Illinois, Constellation Energy’s Clinton Clean Energy Center, was in danger of closing down before its parent [found a new customer in Meta](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/03/meta-buys-a-nuclear-power-plant-more-or-less/), which is buying all of the clean energy attributes from the 1.1 gigawatt power plant. The arrangement will see Clinton sending its electrons to the local grid, while Meta will use the certificates to offset emissions it is producing elsewhere. The tech giant’s Hyperion AI data center, for example, will need 10 natural gas power plants to operate. If completed, the data center will consume more electricity than [all of South Dakota](https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/01/metas-natural-gas-binge-could-power-south-dakota/).\n\nDuane Arnold is smaller, but in the process of refurbishment, NextEra will squeeze an additional 14 megawatts from the facility, bringing the total to 615 megawatts.\n\nAltogether, the three power plants represent the lowest hanging fruit in the U.S. There might be one or two more, according to a [report](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/palisades-three-mile-island-duane-arnold-nuclear-reactor-restart-holtec-nextera-constellation-nrc/730393/) from Utility Dive, though those candidates, including San Onofre in California, have been shuttered for longer and would require more work to bring back online.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-revived-nuclear-power-plant-gets-1-9b-loan-from-us-government", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/08/googles-revived-nuclear-power-plant-gets-1-9b-loan-from-us-government/", "published_at": "2026-09-10 13:13:21+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-10 13:37:52.563331+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Google", "NextEra Energy", "U.S. Department of Energy", "Duane Arnold Energy Center", "Constellation Energy", "Three Mile Island", "John Ketchum", "Microsoft"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-revived-nuclear-power-plant-gets-1-9b-loan-from-us-government", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-revived-nuclear-power-plant-gets-1-9b-loan-from-us-government.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-revived-nuclear-power-plant-gets-1-9b-loan-from-us-government.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-revived-nuclear-power-plant-gets-1-9b-loan-from-us-government.jsonld"}}