The Department of Energy just approved up to $1.9 billion in taxpayer-backed loans for NextEra Energy to restart Iowa's Duane Arnold nuclear plant—a reactor that closed in 2020 and already has a 25-year power purchase agreement with Google. If the deal is solid enough for Alphabet to lock in a quarter-century of electricity, it should be solid enough for private lenders. Instead, you're on the hook if it fails.
The 615-megawatt Duane Arnold plant ran for 45 years before shutting down. NextEra aims to bring it back online by early 2029, pending Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval. Iowa regulators cleared the project in June, and Gov. Kim Reynolds signed legislation offering additional incentives. According to Fox Business, an economic study projects $9 billion in economic value over 25 years, thousands of construction jobs, roughly 400 permanent positions, and about $75 million in tax revenue.
NextEra CEO John Ketchum framed the restart as a way to "keep power affordable for existing customers" and spare Iowa families from bearing grid growth costs. What he didn't explain is why a Fortune 200 energy giant needs nearly $2 billion in public financing when Google—a $2 trillion company—is contractually bound to buy the output for decades. The answer is straightforward: the DOE loan program lets corporations socialize risk while privatizing profit.
The Iowa deal is part of a broader pattern. OilPrice reports that Google just signed a 22-year agreement with Finland's Fortum to keep the Loviisa nuclear plant running through 2050. Microsoft cut a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1. Amazon locked in 1,920 megawatts from Talen Energy's Susquehanna plant. Big Tech needs massive power for AI data centers, and it's finding partners willing to let Washington backstop the infrastructure.
Fox Business framed the Duane Arnold restart as a "major milestone" driven by AI-driven demand pressuring the grid. OilPrice provided the missing context: Google, Amazon, and Microsoft's combined data center operations produced 19 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent last year—roughly a third of France's annual emissions. The AI boom is an energy hog, and the companies fueling it want taxpayers to fund the pipes.
No shuttered U.S. nuclear plant has ever successfully resumed operations. The technical risk is real. So is the financial risk. NextEra's stock doesn't need your help—investors will do just fine if the reactor hums along. But if costs spiral or timelines slip, the DOE loan means the losses land on you.
The question isn't whether nuclear power has a role in America's energy future. It's why taxpayers are financing that future for corporations that can plainly afford to finance it themselves.
