- The Trump administration will allocate $1.9 billion to restart a nuclear plant in Iowa.
- The Duane Arnold Energy Center will resume operations in 2029, supplying nearly 500,000 homes.
- Google will partner with NextEra to secure stable power for its cloud business.
- Tech companies are changing their operations to meet AI demands, driving nuclear energy development.
The Trump administration will invest $1.9 billion to restart a nuclear power plant in Iowa to address the growing power demands in the United States, particularly from artificial intelligence. The Department of Energy announced on Tuesday that it has committed to providing NextEra Energy with up to $1.9 billion in loans to help it reopen the Duane Arnold Energy Center. The 615-megawatt plant is expected to resume operations in early 2029, capable of supplying nearly 500,000 homes and supporting Iowa's expanding cloud and AI infrastructure.
The Duane Arnold Energy Center operated for over 45 years before shutting down in 2020. It was originally scheduled to close later that year, but a strong windstorm damaged the facility, causing it to cease operations several months ahead of plan. NextEra now plans to restart the plant, with the federal loan going toward the work needed to restore the facility and reconnect its power to the regional grid. The Department of Energy expects the project to boost power supply and lower electricity costs. Once Duane Arnold is reopened, it will be the only operating nuclear plant in Iowa.
Major Milestone in Nuclear Revival
Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly stated that this financing "marks another step in the revival of nuclear energy in the United States." Google is a key partner in this restart. In October 2025, Google and NextEra announced an agreement where Google will purchase power from the plant through a multi-year contract. This deal provides NextEra with a stable customer to take the power produced by the plant, while for Google, it means a reliable power source for its growing cloud and AI operations in Iowa.
"We expect Duane Arnold to resume operations in early 2029, and the plant will provide over 600 megawatts of clean, safe, and reliable nuclear energy to the regional grid," Google said in a blog post last year.
Tech Companies' Demand for Nuclear Energy
Google has also pledged to invest an additional $7 billion in Iowa over the next two years, with the expenditure including new facilities and expanded infrastructure to support its cloud and AI business. This deal illustrates how tech companies are changing their operations as AI demands increase. Running advanced AI models requires large data centers, which consume enormous amounts of electricity. Google is not alone in seeking nuclear power. A project to restart the Crane Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania, formerly known as Three Mile Island Unit 1, secured a $1 billion loan from the Department of Energy in 2025, with support from Microsoft.
Meta has also entered into agreements to support up to 6.6 gigawatts of new and existing nuclear capacity by 2035.
Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta are all expanding their data center infrastructure as AI workloads continue to grow. The financing plan for Duane Arnold also aligns with the Trump administration's broader nuclear strategy. In 2025, President Trump signed several executive orders aimed at accelerating the development of nuclear energy in the United States. One of these orders directed the Department of Energy to halt most previous plans for diluting and disposing of excess plutonium, instead pushing for a plan to process the material and make it available for use by private companies.
The Iowa project now adds another significant nuclear investment to this push. If the restart plan proceeds on schedule, Duane Arnold will provide 615 megawatts of generating capacity to the grid by 2029, offering Iowa a major new source of stable power as the demand for AI infrastructure continues to rise.
How Nuclear Investment Addresses AI Demands
As artificial intelligence technology advances rapidly, the demand for electricity has surged, prompting tech companies to seek more stable energy sources. The plan to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa aligns with this trend. The Trump administration's funding is not only a boost for nuclear energy but also a long-term plan to meet future power needs. With Google, Microsoft, and other major tech companies actively investing in nuclear energy, it shows their emphasis on renewable and stable power sources as they expand their data center infrastructure, which will have a profound impact on the operational models of the entire industry.