Utility giant eyes restart of Iowa nuclear plant

By Jeffrey Tomich | 10/24/2024 06:18 AM EDT

NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum says data center growth is driving demand for power from the retired Duane Arnold plant.

Energy sources are seen.

Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, the nation's largest utility holding company, is considering bringing a nuclear plant in Iowa out of retirement to meet projected electricity demand. Claudine Hellmuth/POLITICO (illustration); Internet Archive Book Images/Flickr (drafting sketches); jwigley/Pixabay (pump jack); Peretz Partensky/Flickr (nuclear plant cooling tower); MaxPixel (turbines)

NextEra Energy is “very interested” in restarting an Iowa nuclear plant shuttered four years ago in the face of declining economics and projections for meager U.S. electricity demand growth.

Much has changed since then, including upward adjustments in forecast power demand, especially from new data centers. As fossil fuel plants across the nation continue to shut down and the pace of renewable additions is struggling to fill the void, so-called “zombie” nuclear plants are getting a fresh look from their owners and tech companies seeking to add around-the-clock power supplies while holding onto climate pledges.

Last month, Microsoft announced a deal with Constellation Energy to restart a unit of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. More recently, the Department of Energy finalized a $1.52 billion loan to Holtec International to restart the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan that would supply power to electric cooperatives in the Great Lakes region.

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NextEra CEO John Ketchum said the same forces driving restarts of retired nuclear plants elsewhere has the company looking at the 600-megawatt Duane Arnold plant. Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra, the nation’s largest utility holding company, owns 70 percent of the Iowa nuclear plant located on the Cedar River in eastern Iowa. Two electric cooperatives own the remaining 30 percent.

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