US Energy Department Approves $1.9 Billion Loan to Restart Iowa Nuclear Plant for Google

NextEra Energy has secured a $1.9 billion loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a 615-megawatt nuclear facility in Linn County, Iowa. Google will purchase the plant's output for its AI data centres.

NextEra said last year that the project would strengthen local grid reliability and create "thousands of direct and indirect jobs". The operator plans to resume power production by 2029.

A plant closed by a storm

Duane Arnold lost its cooling towers to a tropical storm that hit the state on 10 August 2020 with gusts up to 140 mph. The facility was already scheduled for decommissioning, and the damage ended its run. Data centre electricity demand is now bringing it back.

Google's energy mix

Google pledged to offset its power usage with green and renewable sources and met that goal in 2018. More recently the company partnered with a natural gas plant to supply one of its data centres in Texas. According to Engadget, data centres operated by Tesla, Meta and others have also drawn on dirty grid power or installed their own natural gas generators.

Against that backdrop, the nuclear deal gives Google a relatively clean source in emissions terms, though it does not solve nuclear waste. The DOE plans to restart three mothballed plants to feed both the grid and AI data centres, and this loan is part of that effort.

Full details are in Engadget's report.