U.S. Nuclear Projects Target 2.25 GW of Restored Capacity Under Long-Term Technology Deals
Key Facts
Projects to restart the Palisades, Crane and Duane Arnold plants in the United States aim to restore a combined 2.25 gigawatts of capacity, enough to power about two million homes and businesses, according to an estimate cited by The Associated Press. The projects are being pursued separately by Holtec, Constellation Energy and NextEra, one company for each plant, and do not represent a unified plan among the three companies. Government financing has come through separate loans that closed on different dates, while Microsoft and Google have linked their electricity purchases to two of the three plants. The contracts aim to provide carbon-free power for data centers and digital infrastructure. Restoring capacity, however, depends on completing work at the plants and securing the necessary regulatory approvals.
In Michigan, the targeted capacity for the Palisades plant is 800 megawatts. The Energy Department closed a $1.52 billion loan to Holtec Palisades in September 2024 to help finance the plant’s restoration and return to service. Restart remains subject to approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The project encountered a hurdle during fuel loading: Holtec began the process on August 30, 2026, and a fuel assembly then tilted inside the reactor. The company said on September 21 that loading had paused while it addressed the affected assembly. On October 21, Holtec announced that it had recovered the tilted assembly using a device designed for the purpose, after the commission approved the recovery methodology, and said it was continuing fuel loading, testing and operational preparations.
The Crane project in Pennsylvania aims to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 under the name Crane Clean Energy Center, with capacity of 835 megawatts. The Energy Department closed a $1 billion loan to Constellation in November 2025 to help finance the project, and the restart remains subject to Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval. Constellation signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft, under which the company will buy the plant’s output. Constellation said the agreement fully funds the restart and that the electricity will help Microsoft match data center consumption in the PJM region with carbon-free energy. The Energy Department added that the project could support more than 600 U.S. jobs and strengthen grid reliability in the region.
In Iowa, NextEra aims to return the Duane Arnold plant to full operation by the first quarter of 2029 under a 25-year power purchase agreement with Google. NextEra says Google will buy the electricity to power cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in the state, and that the agreement covers the costs of the energy the company purchases from the plant. It also said Iowa electricity customers would not bear costs associated with that power. A study cited by NextEra estimated that the restart could generate more than $9 billion in economic benefits for the state over 25 years and support more than 400 permanent operating jobs. The targeted 2029 restart remains the furthest out among the three projects covered by the available information.
All three plants closed before their licenses expired, largely because the electricity they produced was considered costly, according to The Associated Press. Their return depends on a combination of government loans and long-term power purchase agreements, with Microsoft’s agreement tied to Crane and Google’s to Duane Arnold. This reflects technology companies’ efforts to secure carbon-free electricity for data centers, while the plants still need to meet licensing requirements and demonstrate operational readiness. In the market, Constellation Energy shares closed at $253.45 on October 23, 2026, compared with $263.19 on October 19, while NextEra Energy shares closed at $82.1, versus $78.17. Microsoft shares closed at $524.51, compared with $533.52 on October 19.