US Energy Department provides up to $4.4 billion to restart three nuclear power plants — The Independent
The US Department of Energy is providing up to $4.4 billion in loans to restore operations at three shut-down nuclear power plants: Palisades in Michigan, the Crane Clean Energy Center at the Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania, and the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa. According to The Independent, their restart is expected to restore a combined capacity of 2.25 gigawatts, which could be enough for approximately two million households and businesses.
All three plants were closed before their licenses expired, mainly because of the high cost of the electricity they produced. At the same time, demand for electricity is rising, including due to large data centers. President Donald Trump’s administration is promoting the use of nuclear energy for the development of artificial intelligence and industry, and is also funding upgrades at operating nuclear power plants.
Contracts with technology companies
NextEra Energy and Google are working together to restart Duane Arnold in early 2029. NextEra CEO John Ketchum said that a long-term agreement with a major data center operator makes it possible to avoid passing costs on to Iowa household consumers.
Microsoft has signed an agreement with Constellation Energy to purchase electricity after the Crane Clean Energy Center is restored. In 2024, Constellation said it planned to spend $1.6 billion to restart the reactor under a 20-year agreement with Microsoft and expected to put it into operation in 2027. The Department of Energy provided the project with a $1 billion loan.
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Palisades is closest to restarting
The Palisades nuclear power plant, which operated from 1971 to 2022, has made the most progress toward restoration. Holtec International acquired the plant and began dismantling it, but the work carried out was not irreversible. In 2024, Joe Biden’s administration approved a $1.5 billion loan to restart the facility, and the current administration continued the disbursements.
In August, Holtec began loading nuclear fuel but suspended the process after one of the fuel assemblies tilted. The company must determine the cause. Power purchase agreements provide for Palisades to enter service by March 2027.
Nuclear engineering expert Todd Allen said that restoring a reactor could be faster and cheaper than building a new large reactor. At the same time, Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, stressed that, in his view, public funding should primarily be directed toward addressing safety risks, including those related to more frequent extreme weather events.
