In another milestone move by energy-hungry data infrastructure firms to boost carbon-free load by expanding nuclear energy capacity, Google is collaborating with utility giant NextEra Energy to reopen an Iowa reactor plant which has been closed for five years now.
Nuclear friendly Google is committing to a 25-year power purchase agreement to create certainty for restarting the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Cedar Rapids. The single 615-MW reactor at Arnold operated for 45 years before a derecho windstorm damaged cooling towers and owners deemed repairs to be too uneconomical so shut the plant down.
The fear of power generation resource adequacy to meet the future of both artificial intelligence (AI) training models and accelerated cloud-based and industrial-scale computing is driving hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle and Amazon to seek PPAs for both conventional nuclear plants and future small modular reactors (SMR).
Microsoft’s long-term PPA with Constellation is helping pave the way for a restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania, while another Constellation PPA involving Meta is focused on maintaining operations at the Clinton nuclear plant in Illinois, which had been considered for retirement.
NextEra hopes to have Arnold back up and generating power by 2029.
“Restarting Duane Arnold marks an important milestone for NextEra Energy,” said John Ketchum, chairman and CEO of NextEra Energy, in a statement. “Our partnership with Google not only brings nuclear energy back to Iowa — it also accelerates the development of next-generation nuclear technology. Thanks to the leadership of the Trump Administration, Google and NextEra Energy are answering the call of America’s golden age of power demand, creating thousands of jobs, strengthening Iowa’s economy, delivering long-term value to our shareholders and helping power America’s future through innovation and technology.”
Restarting the Arnold reactor unit and powering nuclear operations may employ 800 new jobs during construction and 400 long-term during operations. The power plant’s economic impact on that region of Iowa could be more than $340 million annually.
Google has a long-term involvement in Iowa, including expanding its Council Bluffs data center and investing to build a new data center in Cedar Rapids.
“Building on two decades of work in Iowa, including our recent $7 billion investment in the state this May, Google is proud to partner with NextEra Energy to reopen the Duane Arnold Energy Center – a project that will deliver nuclear energy and hundreds of new job opportunities in the Hawkeye State by the beginning of 2029,” said Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google. “This partnership serves as a model for the investments needed across the country to build energy capacity and deliver reliable, clean power, while protecting affordability and creating jobs that will drive the AI-driven economy.”
Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) and Corn Belt Power Cooperative have been minority owners in the Duane Arnold plant with a combined 30% interest. NextEra Energy is acquiring the cooperatives’ stakes in the nuclear plant.
“CIPCO has a proud and longstanding history with Duane Arnold Energy Center, and we’re thrilled that nuclear energy will once again contribute to our state’s energy future,” said Andrew St. John, executive vice president and CEO of CIPCO. “As a cooperative generation and transmission provider, CIPCO remains committed to our all-of-the-above energy strategy. The restart of Duane Arnold will strengthen our generation portfolio with clean, baseload generation — furthering our ability to deliver safe, reliable and cost-effective power to our cooperative member-owners across Iowa.”
Duane Arnold was built for the once tidy sum of $1.165 billion in the 1970s, commissioning in 1976. At the heart of the plant is a General Electric boiling water reactor with cooling towers along the Cedar River.
The rise of competition for AI dominance and the “industrial computing age” could demand as much as 125 to 150 GW in new load over the coming decade at a time when utilities were anticipating flat load growth in the late 2010s. Data center firms so far have been pursued an all-of-the-above energy approach to fuel future growth with conventional and SMR nuclear, gas-fired power and renewables.
