Google To Bring Shuttered Nuclear Power Plant Back From The Dead

Google announced this week it is moving pinch NextEra Energy to revive a atomic powerfulness works successful Iowa that had closed successful 2020.

NextEra has been looking for a partner to reopen nan reactor for nan past year, and it recovered 1 successful Google, which has been steadily adding zero-carbon power sources to powerfulness its increasing information halfway fleet.

Neither institution disclosed financial position of nan deal.

The Duane Arnold Energy Center was shuttered aft a summertime derecho (major rainfall storm) damaged a portion of nan secondary containment strategy that would forestall nan merchandise of radioactive gases.

The powerfulness works was primitively designed to make 601 megawatts of electricity, and if nan recommissioning goes arsenic planned, nan renovated reactor will beryllium tin of cranking retired an further 14 megawatts.

NextEra is hoping to restart nan installation successful 2029, and Google has agreed to bargain a mostly of its powerfulness for 25 years. The remainder will beryllium sold to nan Central Iowa Power Cooperative connected akin terms. The statement presently holds a 20% liking successful nan Duane Arnold powerfulness plant, though NextEra said it has agreements to bargain retired some nan co-op and nan different number owner.

Nuclear powerfulness has been experiencing a revival arsenic tech companies and information halfway developers person been searching for caller sources of powerfulness arsenic request for energy has awakened aft a decade-plus slumber.

The Iowa reactor isn’t nan first to beryllium brought backmost from nan dead. Last year, Microsoft said it would activity pinch Constellation Energy to restart a reactor astatine Three Mile Island that was unopen down successful 2019. Constellation said it expects nan effort to costs $1.6 billion. If each goes arsenic planned, nan 835-megawatt reactor should travel online successful 2028.

Restarting reactors is considered a shortcut to bringing caller atomic capacity to nan grid, apt shaving years disconnected nan clip it would return to build a caller powerfulness plant. But they’re still years-long projects, locking them successful title pinch caller earthy state powerfulness plants, which besides return years to develop.

In nan meantime, companies for illustration Google are besides turning to solar and batteries, which tin beryllium deployed successful months alternatively than years, dramatically reducing nan clip it takes to powerfulness a caller information center.