A Dormant Nuclear Plant in Iowa Is Poised to Power Google’s Energy Needs

The tech giant is reviving the Duane Arnold Energy Center, the latest big tech move to fuel expansive artificial intelligence ambitions.

A nuclear plant in Iowa—currently out of action—is set to help Google reap reliable, low-carbon energy to feed power-intensive artificial intelligence.

Google said Monday it is partnering with NextEra Energy to reopen the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a nuclear plant that closed five years ago after damage from a windstorm. (The Gazette)

Google said Monday it is partnering with NextEra Energy to reopen the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a nuclear plant that closed five years ago after damage from a windstorm. The plan is to get the plant, which would provide over 600 megawatts of nuclear energy for the regional grid, up and running in early 2029 pending regulatory approval. The Central Iowa Power Cooperative will buy the plant’s energy output that isn’t used by Google.

The move follows a push by the tech industry to galvanize nuclear energy in the U.S., including a deal between Constellation Energy and Microsoft to restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear power disaster in the country. And Meta signed a deal this summer with Constellation to secure power from the Clinton Clean Energy Center, an already-operating nuclear plant in Illinois.

For tech giants such as Google, nuclear energy is appealing because it can provide round-the-clock power while producing minimal carbon emissions. Expanding nuclear energy is also backed by the Trump administration and lawmakers across the aisle.

Nuclear is part of a medley of low-carbon-energy routes Google is betting on, from geothermal to carbon capture and storage, said Michael Terrell, Google’s director of energy. The company also has been investing in wind and solar for years.

Last week, Google announced its first carbon capture and storage project at a natural-gas power plant in Decatur, Ill. The company agreed to buy most of the power the plant generates, and said the plant will store about 90% of its carbon emissions.

“We’re driving this approach where we’re trying multiple solutions,” said Terrell. As to nuclear, Terrell said “it’s an ‘always-on’ technology, it’s a technology that the world is familiar with, and one that’s been deployed at a large scale all around the world.”

Aside from completely restarting a plant, Terrell said the company is interested in upgrading existing plants “to squeeze more new megawatts out of them.”

Building new reactors is time consuming, not to mention expensive. It can take thousands of workers to build a plant, with large amounts of steel and concrete and several systems for cooling, ventilation and controls needed.

In the longer term, Google is looking toward nuclear fusion as opposed to fission: While the latter is used currently in power plants, the former can provide much more energy in a potentially safer process. The fusion process creates energy by joining atoms together, while the fission process creates energy when atoms are split apart.

Earlier this year, President Trump said “it’s time for nuclear” when he signed a flurry of executive orders to boost the industry, including one aimed at speeding up the time it takes to secure project licenses. Trump wants to quadruple nuclear power generation over the next 25 years.

After falling out of favor in some circles, nuclear is seeing more support these days, including from Republicans, Democrats and the public: About six in 10 people in the U.S. say they want more nuclear power plants for electricity, according to the Pew Research Center—up from a 43% support rate in 2020.

“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,” said John Ketchum, chief executive of NextEra Energy.

Others are looking to reopen dormant reactors: Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to buy two inactive nuclear reactors from Santee Cooper, a big power provider in South Carolina.

It isn’t the first time Google has looked at nuclear: This time last year, the tech giant announced an agreement with Kairos Power to buy nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors, which are quicker and cheaper to start. They are also considered somewhat safer, and require less cooling.

Nuclear is set to fuel a large chunk of data center power demand: New nuclear power capacity could potentially meet 14% of the projected increase in data center power demand over the next decade, according to a Deloitte analysis.

But safety concerns still loom large. Environmental advocacy group the Sierra Club has raised concerns about nuclear waste from restarting Duane Arnold, highlighting also that the plant is “decades old and has known safety flaws, and components may have degraded during the five years of decommissioning.”

“Bringing Duane Arnold back online is a big win for Linn County and the entire state of Iowa,” said state Sen. Charlie McClintock, who represents Iowa’s 42nd district. “Kids would watch their parents work at the plant and then grow up and work there themselves.”

Write to Clara Hudson at clara.hudson@wsj.com