Shuttered nuclear plant in Iowa gets $1.9B federal loan to restart

The federal government is backing a plan to restart a nuclear plant that shut down six years ago. The Department of Energy closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion to NextEra Energy to help revive the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa, a 615-megawatt plant the company hopes to have generating power again by early 2029. It's the third shuttered U.S. nuclear plant to get major federal loan support recently, following similar deals for plants in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

These old reactors closed because repairs and relicensing got too expensive, especially with cheap natural gas and renewables competing for business. Now, with electricity demand climbing fast — largely driven by data centers and AI — plant owners see a reason to bring them back. NextEra still needs approval from federal nuclear regulators before Duane Arnold can restart, and it has already signed a 25-year deal to sell power from the plant to Google, which needs electricity for its computing operations in Iowa.

None of this changes anything for homeowners right away — there's no rebate or program tied to this loan. But it's part of a broader shift: nuclear power is getting new bipartisan support as a steady, carbon-free way to meet rising electricity demand, and several states are dropping old bans on nuclear plants. If more of these reactors come back online, it could mean more reliable power on the grid in the years ahead, even if the direct effect on your electric bill or local utility isn't yet clear.