The Pulse
US Backs Three Nuclear Restarts as AI Power Demand Climbs
The U.S. is backing efforts to restart three closed nuclear plants, aiming to restore 2.25 gigawatts of electricity as demand grows. Federal loans support the projects, while Google and Microsoft have agreements tied to power from two of th
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
A tilted fuel assembly halted Palisades’ August fuel-loading work, interrupting one of the final major steps toward restarting the Michigan plant. The Associated Press reported on October 16 that the federal government is backing efforts to reopen Palisades and two other shuttered nuclear plants as electricity demand rises, including from large data centers.
Three sites add up to 2.25 gigawatts
The Department of Energy is lending as much as $4.4 billion to support the restarts of Palisades, the Crane Clean Energy Center at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, and Iowa’s Duane Arnold Energy Center. Together, the projects aim to restore 2.25 gigawatts of generating capacity—enough, by the AP’s estimate, to power roughly 2 million homes and businesses. Each plant closed before its operating license expired, largely because its electricity was considered too costly.
The financial case has changed as technology companies seek large, steady supplies of carbon-free electricity for data centers. Google is working with NextEra Energy on Duane Arnold’s restart, while Microsoft has a contract tied to the Crane Clean Energy Center. The Trump administration is also supporting upgrades at operating nuclear plants to increase their output.
Palisades faces the nearest test
Palisades ran from 1971 until 2022, and its operating license extends to 2031. After Entergy left the wholesale power market, Holtec International bought the plant and began dismantling it; Michigan officials encouraged the company to pursue a restart and provided state funding. The Biden administration approved a $1.5 billion loan for the project in 2024, and the Trump administration continued payments.
Holtec began loading nuclear fuel in August, but paused after a fuel assembly tilted from its upright position and the company said it needed to determine why. The plant’s power-purchase agreements require it to be in service by March 2027. Duane Arnold, which shut down in 2020 after a powerful storm damaged it, is targeting a restart by early 2029; Crane’s owner, Constellation Energy, hopes to bring that plant back online in 2027.
A restart is a complicated return to service
Restarting a plant involves more than bringing equipment back online. Owners must return nuclear workers to the site and bring their training up to date, check equipment and maintenance, secure fuel, and obtain regulatory approval to resume operations. Todd Allen, an associate dean for research at the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering, compared the process to restarting a car that has sat idle, while emphasizing the difference in complexity: “That’s what they’re trying to do with these nuclear plants, but it’s a much bigger, complicated system.”
The restart effort is unusual: the AP reports that no commercial reactor is known to have resumed generating electricity after entering the decommissioning process, though some reactors have returned after long outages. The World Nuclear Association said Palisades could become the first plant worldwide to generate power again after beginning decommissioning.
Federal loans draw opposing judgments
The public financing has drawn disagreement over whether taxpayers should help fund projects with technology companies lined up to buy power. Jack Spencer, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate and Environment, argued that the projects face strong demand and are low-risk, leaving no reason to direct federal money to the companies. Jennifer Gordon, who directs the Atlantic Council’s Nuclear Energy Policy Initiative, said federal financing is a good way to help secure needed electricity.
Safety and climate risks add another point of dispute. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said most U.S. plants were designed decades ago to withstand the natural disasters of their time, while climate change is making some extreme weather events more frequent and severe. “That’s not happening at this point,” he said of spending the necessary funds to bring plants to the right level of safety.
The restart plans therefore hinge on more than federal backing and corporate power contracts: each plant must clear its own technical, staffing, fuel and regulatory hurdles. Palisades’ March 2027 service deadline puts the next major test on a specific date.