Google, NextEra to Restart Iowa’s Only Nuclear Power Plant

Google and energy infrastructure company NextEra Energy have joined together to restart Iowa’s only nuclear power plant to help power Google’s growing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, the companies announced Monday.

NextEra Energy owns the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, Iowa, which was originally opened in 1974 but was shut down in 2020 during a windstorm that knocked it offline. The storm damaged the cooling towers.

The energy company said tech giant Google has signed a 25-year deal to buy power from the facility, which the Florida-based firm wants to restart.

“Restarting Duane Arnold marks an important milestone for NextEra Energy,” John Ketchum, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Our partnership with Google not only brings nuclear energy back to Iowa—it also accelerates the development of next-generation nuclear technology.”

NextEra said the partnership will create thousands of jobs, strengthen Iowa’s economy, and help power America’s future through innovation and technology.

Ruth Porat, the president and chief investment officer of Google and its parent company Alphabet, said the project would build on two decades of work in Iowa.

The company in May announced a $7 billion investment in the state in cloud and AI infrastructure. The project includes the development of a new data center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, about three miles from the nuclear power plant, and an expansion of its existing digital hub in Council Bluffs.

Google also expects the project to deliver nuclear energy and hundreds of new job opportunities in the Hawkeye State by the beginning of 2029, Porat said.

“This partnership serves as a model for the investments needed across the country to build energy capacity and deliver reliable, clean power, while protecting affordability and creating jobs that will drive the AI-driven economy,” Porat said.

NextEra Energy has partnered with the tech giant before. The company stated it was already executing projects for Google that produce about 3 gigawatts of energy.

The reopening of the Iowa nuclear plant was welcomed by state officials.

“Meeting the demands of emerging technologies requires reliable, clean energy and the Duane Arnold nuclear facility is ideally positioned to deliver it,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement.

President Donald Trump has stated multiple times that the United States needs to dramatically increase its energy production to meet the growing development of AI. His administration published an AI action plan in July that, among other initiatives, seeks to develop new methods to harness energy.

The plan prioritizes embracing a broad range of energy generation sources, including nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, and reforming power markets to align with the goal of stabilizing the power grid.