Tech giants turn to decommissioned nuclear plants to fuel expanding data centers

Three shuttered nuclear plants in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Iowa are returning to service to supply 2.25 gigawatts of electricity primarily meant for artificial intelligence data centers. Backed by billions in federal loans from the US Department of Energy, the facilities represent an unprecedented move to recommission commercial reactors that were previously shut down or undergoing active dismantling. [1][2]

The furthest along is Michigan's Palisades plant, operated by Holtec, which was loading fuel in August 2026 and expects to bring 800 megawatts online by March 2027. Constellation Energy is investing $1.6 billion to restore Unit 1 at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island facility—now dubbed the Crane Clean Energy Center—targeting 835 megawatts by 2027 under a 20-year contract with Microsoft. Iowa's Duane Arnold Energy Center, partnered with Google, is slated to add 615 megawatts in 2029. [1][2]

Tech companies are absorbing high energy costs to bypass severe grid connection bottlenecks as local data center demand surges. The revivals also align with federal goals under a 2025 executive order aiming to quadruple domestic nuclear capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050, despite persistent safety concerns surrounding the operation of aging facilities. [1][2]