(The Center Square) - The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing announced a $1.9 billion loan Friday to NextEra Energy to fund the restart of the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a nuclear plant decommissioned in 2020 near Cedar Rapids, Iowa that would primarily power a Google data center.
Iowa's lone nuclear plant, the 615-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center, was scheduled for decommissioning in October 2020 due to changing market economics before a derecho with 140-mph winds damaged cooling towers and forced its closure about two months earlier than anticipated.
Alphabet subsidiary Google signed a 25-year contract with NextEra in October 2025 to purchase 70% of the power generated at the nuclear plant. The Department of Energy and tech companies are attempting to resurrect other so-called “zombie” nuclear plants that include the Palisades plant in Michigan and Three Mile Unit 1 in Pennsylvania.
“President Trump has set an ambitious course to restore American nuclear leadership, and the restart of Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant in Iowa marks another step in advancing America’s nuclear renaissance,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy James P. Danly.
“This Administration is pursuing a comprehensive nuclear strategy, restarting existing reactors, increasing the output of our nuclear fleet, and accelerating new construction, to build the abundant, affordable, and reliable power system required for American prosperity and reindustrialization,” said Danly.
NextEra must still complete a complex "bundle of licensing actions" currently under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is expected to run through at least January 2028. Florida-based NextEra said it expects to bring the plant online in early 2029.
Restarting the Iowa nuclear plant, located near Palo in Linn County, is expected to result in almost 1,500 jobs during construction and support more than 450 full-time workers once operational.
Linn County government officials have approved rezoning requests and a funding agreement with NextEra, according to Iowa News 5. In June, the Iowa Utilities Commission issued a generating certificate that cleared the nuclear plant to restart.
The Central Iowa Power Cooperative will purchase 30% of the power generated at the nuclear plant.
John Ketchum, president and CEO of NextEra Energy, said in a statement that the loan shows America can support rapid economic growth and rising electricity demand while also helping to keep power affordable for existing customers. “By bringing new generation online to serve new demand, we can strengthen the grid, create hundreds of good-paying jobs and help ensure Iowa families and businesses are not asked to bear the costs of growth,” Ketchum said.
Opponents of nuclear power contend investing billions in decades-old infrastructure is risky. "We shouldn't be gambling public funds to reverse the decommissioning of aging, storm-damaged reactors just to satisfy the electricity cravings of massive tech monopolies," said the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter in a recent public statement.
Last year, the Trump administration announced a $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy to restart a zombie nuclear reactor. Constellation signed a deal in late 2024 with Microsoft to restart an 835-megawatt reactor at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, which was shut down in 2019, while Holtec International is currently using a $1.52 billion federal loan to reopen the 800-megawatt Palisades plant in Michigan.