NextEra secures US loan of up to $1.9 billion for restart of Iowa nuclear plant
NEE•Other nuclear restart efforts
While efforts are under way to restart three U.S. nuclear centers, including Holtec's 800 MW Palisades plant in Michigan, which is not connected to a technology deal, no mothballed nuclear power plant has resumed operations yet.
In 2024, Holtec got a loan of up to $1.52 billion from the Energy Department. The company had said the plant would restart in late 2025, but it has been delayed.
Last year, the Trump administration said it had loaned Constellation Energy Corp $1 billion to restart a nuclear reactor at a Pennsylvania plant formerly known as Three Mile Island. A separate unit at the plant shut in 1979 after an accident that chilled the nuclear power industry.
Constellation signed a deal in late 2024 with Microsoft to restart the 835-megawatt reactor, which shut in 2019. The electricity from the restart would offset that used by Microsoft's data center.
Power demand and nuclear restart plans
Surging electricity demand, including from AI data centers, is pressuring U.S. power grids and spurring interest in extending the life of existing nuclear plants and bringing shuttered reactors back online.
Gregory Beard, the director of the department's office of Energy Dominance Financing, said Duane Arnold is "exactly the kind of investment that will help restore American nuclear leadership, strengthen our energy security, and deliver the affordable, reliable power Americans need to fuel our nation’s future.”
Iowa's lone nuclear plant, the Duane Arnold Energy Center, closed in 2020 after operating for 45 years. Operations are scheduled to resume in early 2029.
