{"slug": "ground-broken-on-a-rust-belt-powerhouse-shippingports-data-hub-rises-in-the-age", "title": "Ground broken on a Rust Belt powerhouse: Shippingport’s data hub rises in the Age of AI Anxiety", "summary": "Construction has begun on a data hub at the site of the Shippingport nuclear power plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States, which opened in 1957. The Washington Examiner reports the project is rising amid what it calls an era of AI anxiety, with the author recalling a 1976 field trip to the Shippingport atomic station and the neighboring coal-fired Bruce Mansfield plant.", "body_md": "**SHIPPINGPORT, Pa.** — The last time that I stood on these grounds along the Ohio River in [Beaver County](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/pennsylvania/) was 1976, 19 years after the first commercial [nuclear power](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/nuclear-power/) plant in the United States opened here.\n\nMy Perry High School physics teacher, David Burrows, had loaded a handful of us into a van for a field trip to the atomic station and to the coal-fired Bruce Mansfield plant next door.\n\n## Stay informed.Stay ahead.\n\nJoin Washington Examiner for unlimited access to the news, analysis, and commentary that matter most.\n\n[See Options](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/subscribe/digital/)\n\nAlready a member? [Log in](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sign-in/)\n\n  Already a print subscriber?", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ground-broken-on-a-rust-belt-powerhouse-shippingports-data-hub-rises-in-the-age", "canonical_source": "https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/4729194/ground-broken-rust-belt-powerhouse-pennsylvania-data-hub-ai-anxiety/", "published_at": "2026-09-16 13:10:09+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-16 13:13:44.744454+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Shippingport", "Beaver County", "Ohio River", "Bruce Mansfield", "Washington Examiner", "David Burrows", "Perry High School"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ground-broken-on-a-rust-belt-powerhouse-shippingports-data-hub-rises-in-the-age", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ground-broken-on-a-rust-belt-powerhouse-shippingports-data-hub-rises-in-the-age.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ground-broken-on-a-rust-belt-powerhouse-shippingports-data-hub-rises-in-the-age.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ground-broken-on-a-rust-belt-powerhouse-shippingports-data-hub-rises-in-the-age.jsonld"}}