2025-01-25 01:27:00 :
NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) – NextEra Energy has spoken with regional grid operators and submitted proposals to federal regulators about a potential restart of electricity, NextEra Energy Chief Executive John Ketchum told Reuters on Friday. Notice from the Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant in Iowa.
After decades of decline, U.S. nuclear power has become a much-coveted source of power for big tech companies’ artificial intelligence data centers. Nuclear power’s ability to deliver vast quantities of nearly carbon-free energy around the clock has boosted shares of nuclear power plant companies last year.
“We’re very excited about the way Duane Arnold is moving forward,” Ketchum said.
The United States has yet to restore fully shut down nuclear reactors, but Duane Arnold will be one of three the country is trying to restart. One of the sites – Constellation Energy’s Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania (now the Crane Clean Energy Center) – received a power purchase agreement to provide power from the facility to Microsoft data centers.
Ketchum said the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which generated about 600 megawatts of electricity and closed in 2020 after 45 years, may also power the data center, but no contract has been signed yet.
A preliminary engineering assessment has been carried out at the facility, which found the plant’s reactors are in good condition and the wider plant could resume operations as early as late 2028.
The Duane Arnold cooling tower was destroyed in the severe storm and will need to be rebuilt, Ketchum said, adding that he expected the construction process to be simple and require no nuclear expertise.
There was also work to be done on transmission, and equipment for the site had not yet been ordered, he said.
He said two near-term milestones for a potential Duane Arnold restart include a detailed analysis and inventory of the site’s condition and ensuring customers purchase power from the site.
(Reporting by Leila Kearney; Editing by Rod Nickell)
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