thegazette.com · Tom Barton Gazette Des Moines Bureau · September 8, 2026
Feds close on $1.9B loan to restart Iowa nuclear plant | Environmental News, Nature News | thegazette.com
# Inside the multibillion-dollar effort to restart Iowa’s only nuclear plant
## Federal financing advances multibillion-dollar effort to bring 615-megawatt plant back online
- Tom Barton Gazette Des Moines Bureau
#### Tom Barton
Deputy Des Moines Bureau Chief
- Author facebook - Author twitter - Author email (Tom.Barton@TheGazette.com) - Sep 8, 2026 - Sep 8, 2026 Updated 18 mins ago
- Savannah Blake/The Gazette
Dave Sluszka, vice president of nuclear oversight for the reopening of Duane Arnold, points out the reactor controls during a media tour of the Duane Arnold Energy Center on Monday in Palo. The nuclear facility is anticipated to open in early 2029 and will generate more than 450 permanent jobs.
PALO — The federal government has closed on a loan of up to $1.9 billion to help NextEra Energy restart Iowa’s only nuclear power plant, a major financing milestone for the company’s effort to return the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo to service.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced the loan Tuesday. The 615-megawatt plant, which shut down in 2020, would generate enough electricity to power nearly 500,000 homes, according to federal officials.
NextEra Energy Resources President and CEO Brian Bolster declined to provide the total cost of the restart, but told reporters “we're talking about multiple billions of dollars here to bring this plant back online.”
NextEra is targeting the end of 2028 or early 2029 to return the facility to operation, Bolster said.
The restart is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump’s administration to expand nuclear power production. The administration has set a goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary James Danly said Tuesday the strategy includes keeping existing reactors operating, increasing output from the current fleet, restarting closed plants, rebuilding domestic nuclear manufacturing and fuel supplies, and deploying new reactor designs.
“It is a good feeling to come back to a facility that had been shuttered for years and is being brought back online,” Danly said.
Duane Arnold is among three shuttered U.S. nuclear plants now targeted for revival as utilities and technology companies seek additional generation to meet rapidly growing electricity demand, including from data centers.
Danly called the Palo plant “a significant anchor facility for Iowa and for this county … that is going to help us achieve the objective of energy dominance.”
NextEra and federal officials estimate the restart will generate more than $9 billion in economic benefits for Iowa over 25 years and generate approximately $75 million in tax revenue over the life of the project. The project also is expected to support more than 450 permanent jobs and nearly 1,500 construction jobs.
“These benefits will be felt well beyond the plant. They will support local families, businesses and communities throughout Eastern Iowa that have embraced Duane Arnold coming back,” Bolster said.
### Regulatory hurdles remain
The Iowa Utilities Commission approved a generating certificate for the restart of the Duane Arnold Energy Center in June. NextEra still must complete the federal licensing process with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission before Duane Arnold can resume operations.
Bolster said the project has secured the major approvals needed to continue construction and that remaining permits are not expected to slow the schedule.
NextEra Energy Resources president and CEO Brian Bolster speaks before a media tour of the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo. Savannah Blake/The Gazette
The NRC ultimately must approve the plant’s return from decommissioning status to operation.
The project has faced opposition. Beyond Nuclear intervened in the IUC proceeding, raising safety and environmental concerns and arguing restarting the plant could inhibit renewable energy development.
Bolster said Tuesday NextEra believes a lawsuit challenging the state certificate will not prevent the project from moving forward.
“We believe at the end of the day that we'll be able to continue to move forward, and we will come to a successful resolution relative to that lawsuit,” he said.
The federal government has closed on a loan of up to $1.9 billion to help NextEra Energy restart Iowa’s only nuclear power plant, a major financing milestone for the company’s effort to return the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo to service. The U.S. Department of Energy announced the loan Tuesday. The 615-megawatt plant, which shut down in 2020, would generate enough electricity to power nearly 500,000 homes, according to federal officials. In this video, Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary James Danly and NextEra Energy Resources President and CEO Brian Bolster answer questions from media. Tom Barton The Gazette
### Google agreement
Most of Duane Arnold’s electricity is expected to serve Google under a 25-year power purchase agreement intended to support the company’s growing cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Iowa. Google has said the agreement enables the investment needed to restart the plant, while NextEra has said existing Iowa customers will not bear the costs associated with the power Google purchases.
Asked how the arrangement benefits other customers, Bolster said adding generation to serve new demand strengthens the broader grid while the customers creating that demand pay for it.
Danly said adding both new electricity generation and new customers can put downward pressure on rates by spreading the fixed costs of the regional power and transmission system across a larger customer base. A larger pool of generators allows grid operators to dispatch lower-cost electricity when available, he said.
“Every time you build a new facility to serve a new load, you have downward price pressure on rates,” Danly said. “That is a universal fact of utility regimes.”
The reactor core is shown during a media tour Sept. 8 of the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo. The nuclear facility is anticipated to open in early 2029 and will generate 450 permanent jobs. Savannah Blake/The Gazette
### Broader nuclear expansion
The restart comes as Iowa officials consider a broader expansion of nuclear energy.
A task force created by Gov. Kim Reynolds has recommended a statewide study identifying potential nuclear sites, creation of an “Iowa nuclear-ready” program for interested communities, expanded workforce training and additional incentives for nuclear projects and manufacturers.
The panel recommended Iowa continue pressing the federal government for a long-term solution for spent nuclear fuel.
Danly said Tuesday the Energy Department is examining both long-term storage and technologies that could allow more energy to be extracted from used nuclear fuel.
Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary James Danly answers a question from The Gazette about the long-term storage and potential reuse of spent nuclear fuel during a visit to the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, Iowa, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. In the video that follows, NextEra Energy explains how spent fuel is removed from the reactor and stored on site as delays continue in establishing a centralized federal disposal site. Tom Barton The Gazette
“The objective is not just to ensure that it's safely stored, which is obviously the primary concern, but also that we get as much out of it as we can,” Danly said.
He said the administration’s nuclear expansion strategy includes rebuilding the domestic supply chain needed to manufacture reactor components and produce nuclear fuel, including expanding U.S. uranium enrichment capacity and addressing long lead times for equipment.
“We're doing everything we can to fix supply chain issues, long lead time items, the nuclear fuel cycle, onshoring enrichment ca