NextEra Energy has closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion from the US Department of Energy to finance the restart of the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Linn County, Iowa, the state's only nuclear facility.

The financing, announced, comes through the DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing and marks what the department described as the third such loan it has provided to support a nuclear plant restart in the United States.

A Plant Shut Down by a Storm

The Duane Arnold Energy Center first entered service in February 1975 and operated for more than four decades before ceasing operations in 2020. The closure was triggered by the Midwest derecho, a severe straight-line windstorm that damaged the facility's cooling towers. Following the storm, repairs were assessed as uneconomical, and the plant was shut down rather than restored.

The 615-megawatt boiling water reactor sat idle until reports emerged in 2024 that NextEra was evaluating a potential restart.

That reassessment coincided with growing demand from hyperscale technology companies for dedicated, around-the-clock carbon-free power generation, a trend that had already prompted Microsoft to contract the entire output of the revived Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania.

Google PPA Anchors the Project

In October 2025, NextEra announced it had signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Google to power a data center, contracting the full output of a restarted Duane Arnold plant. The company set a target of delivering power no later than the first quarter of 2029, pending regulatory approvals.

The DOE loan is intended to help NextEra finance the comprehensive restart process, which involves extensive inspections, engineering evaluations, and operational readiness activities under the oversight of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as other federal, state, and local agencies.

In June 2026, the Iowa Utilities Commission issued a certificate to NextEra authorizing the construction and operation of Duane Arnold, which the company described as another important milestone toward bringing the plant back online.

Economic Claims and State Support

NextEra cited a study estimating that the restart could generate more than USD 9 billion in economic benefits for Iowa over 25 years. The company said the project would create thousands of jobs during construction and refurbishment, support more than 400 permanent high-paying jobs during operations, and generate approximately USD 75 million in tax revenue over the life of the project.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds expressed support for the financing milestone, noting that she had signed legislation providing incentives for nuclear power development in the state.

"New nuclear development and the restart of Duane Arnold will meet our growing energy demand while also providing hundreds of good-paying jobs throughout the state," Reynolds said.

John Ketchum, chairman, president, and chief executive of NextEra Energy, framed the project as a means of meeting new electricity demand without placing financial burdens on existing ratepayers.

"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.

Third DOE Loan for a Nuclear Restart

The DOE described the Duane Arnold financing as the third loan from its Office of Energy Dominance Financing directed at restarting a nuclear plant.

The first two were a USD 1 billion loan for the Crane Clean Energy Center, the revived Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania, and a USD 1.52 billion loan for the Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert Township, Michigan.

US Deputy Secretary of Energy James P. Danly connected the loan to the Trump administration's broader nuclear ambitions. "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," Danly said.

Hyperscalers Race to Lock Up Nuclear Output

The Duane Arnold deal is part of a broader pattern of major technology companies contracting for nuclear power to meet the energy demands of artificial intelligence infrastructure and large-scale data center operations.

In addition to Google's agreement with NextEra, Microsoft contracted the entirety of Three Mile Island Unit 1's revived output.

Meta signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy for the complete output of the 1.1-gigawatt Clinton Clean Energy Center in Clinton, Illinois.

Amazon Web Services also entered a 1.92-gigawatt power purchase agreement with Talen Energy for electricity from the 2.5-gigawatt Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

The Duane Arnold restart, if completed on schedule, would add 615 megawatts of baseload generation to the regional grid by early 2029, with all of that capacity flowing to Google under the terms of the 25-year agreement.