You read here and here last fall that the Duane Arnold Energy Center had been chosen by Google as an opportunity to bring back online some nuclear power that had been mothballed. The power plant’s owner, NextEra Energy, and Google have been working to do just that, and have now received a $1.9 billion loan from the government to help finance the project. Tim De Chant reports at TechCrunch, writing:
Last October, Google said it would bring an Iowa nuclear power plant back from the dead. Now the facility’s owner, NextEra Energy, has received a $1.9 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to finance the refurbishment.
The sizable loan is the second of its kind, suggesting that the Trump administration views revived nuclear power as a key source of electricity for tech companies seeking to power their AI data centers. Last year, the Department of Energy extended a $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island.
Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly visited the plant to celebrate the loan. Watch:
Deputy Secretary Danly visited Duane Arnold Energy Center — celebrating the @ENERGY loan that will restart Iowa’s only nuclear plant.
This plant will generate enough electricity to power nearly 500,000 homes, create hundreds of jobs, and lower electricity costs for Iowans! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/V6pcwoDfyE
— U.S. Department of Energy (@ENERGY) September 8, 2026
Action Line: America’s nuclear renaissance is happening, and big tech companies like Google are making it possible. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
Read more about the nuclear renaissance here:
- Alabama Could Be the Florence of the Nuclear Renaissance
- America’s Nuclear Renaissance Is Being Driven by AI
- Could the Nuclear Renaissance Begin in Michigan?
- THE BLUE WAY: Making Nuclear “Financeable and Repeatable”
- The Reliability of Nuclear
- More Can Be Done for American Nuclear
- Idaho National Lab Picking Low Hanging Nuclear Fruit
