Dead Nuclear Plants Are Coming Back to Life Across America

Tech Giants and Washington Make It Happen

For the first time in U.S. history, nuclear power plants that were shut down and heading for the scrap heap are being brought back online.

Three reactors in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Iowa are now on track to restart by 2029, backed by billions in federal loans and long-term deals with tech companies desperate for clean power.

What changed? AI data centers are gobbling up electricity at a pace nobody predicted, and nuclear is the only carbon-free source that runs around the clock.

The push has united Democrats and Republicans in ways almost nothing else has lately, and the money flowing into these projects tells you exactly how serious everyone is.

Palisades Makes History in Michigan

In August 2025, the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Michigan, officially transitioned from decommissioning back to operational status, making it the first U.S. nuclear plant in history to reverse course after being shut down.

The 800-megawatt reactor closed in May 2022 after more than 50 years of operation, and owner Holtec International originally bought it to tear it apart.

But in September 2022, Holtec announced alongside Governor Gretchen Whitmer that it intended to restart the plant instead.

The reactor is now authorized to receive fuel and is expected to begin generating power before the end of 2025.

Federal Government Bets Big on Palisades

The Department of Energy approved a loan guarantee of up to $1.52 billion for the Palisades restart.

By September 2025, nearly $491 million had already been disbursed to Holtec as work progressed.

In December 2025, an additional $400 million federal investment was announced to finance the original reactor’s recommissioning plus the deployment of two advanced small modular reactors at the Lake Michigan site.

Once complete, the combined facility will produce 1,400 megawatts of baseload power. Governor Whitmer called it a validation of Michigan’s role as a clean energy leader.

Three Mile Island Returns from the Dead

Constellation Energy announced in September 2024 that it would restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania through a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft.

In May 2025, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Constellation’s request to rename the facility the Christopher M. Crane Clean Energy Center after a late industry leader.

Since the announcement, Constellation has accelerated the restart timeline to 2027 and hired hundreds of workers.

Microsoft Locks in Nuclear for AI

Under the agreement, Microsoft will purchase energy from the Crane Clean Energy Center to match the power its data centers in the PJM region consume with carbon-free energy.

The Trump administration backed the project with a $1 billion loan, with the first advance to Constellation expected in early 2026.

Before it was retired in 2019, the plant had a generating capacity of 837 megawatts, enough to power more than 800,000 homes.

An independent economic study confirmed the restart will create approximately 3,400 direct and indirect jobs and add over $16 billion to Pennsylvania’s GDP.

Google Brings Iowa’s Reactor Back

In October 2025, NextEra Energy and Google announced plans to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s only nuclear facility.

Google signed a 25-year agreement to purchase power from the 615-megawatt plant to support its AI and cloud infrastructure in Iowa.

The plant had been shut down in 2020 after a storm damaged its cooling towers and repairs were deemed uneconomical. NextEra expects the plant to return to service by early 2029 or possibly the fourth quarter of 2028.

The deal is expected to create approximately 400 full-time jobs during operations.

Both Parties Are on Board

About 60% of U.S. adults now say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity, up from 43% in 2020, according to Pew Research Center.

Republican support stands at roughly 69%, while Democratic support has climbed to about 52%. The partisan gap on nuclear power is far smaller than on fossil fuels like offshore drilling or coal mining.

Industry leaders say bipartisan support for nuclear hasn’t been this strong in decades, driven by recognition that nuclear is emissions-free and provides jobs that pay well.

Trump Orders a Nuclear Renaissance

On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed four executive orders intended to quadruple U.S. nuclear energy capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050.

The orders instruct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish a maximum deadline of 18 months for final decisions on applications to build and operate new reactors.

The Department of Energy is directed to facilitate 5 gigawatts of power uprates at existing reactors and aim for 10 new large reactors under construction by 2030.

The orders also designate AI data centers at federal facilities as critical defense infrastructure.

AI Is Eating the Power Grid

U.S. estimates suggest energy demand for data centers could reach 400 terawatt-hours by 2030, up from fewer than 100 terawatt-hours in 2020.

Over recent months, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta have all announced ambitious deals to acquire nuclear power for their operations.

In June 2025, Meta signed a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy for 1.1 gigawatts of nuclear power from Illinois. Amazon partnered with Talen Energy to receive 1,920 megawatts of carbon-free nuclear power through 2042.

Nuclear runs constantly, which matches what data centers need.

Georgia Showed It Could Be Done

Vogtle Unit 3 began commercial operations on July 31, 2023, becoming the first new nuclear reactor completed in the United States in over 30 years.

Unit 4 followed on April 29, 2024. With all four units now running, Plant Vogtle is the largest generator of clean energy in the nation, expected to produce more than 30 million megawatt-hours of electricity each year.

The project cost more than $30 billion and ran years behind schedule, but it proved the country could still build new reactors with a trained workforce.

The Bet That Could Reshape American Energy

The numbers tell the story. Palisades cost $1.5 billion to restart. Three Mile Island will take $1.6 billion. Duane Arnold another $1.6 billion.

These are massive gambles on technology that fell out of favor decades ago.

But with electricity demand surging and tech companies willing to sign deals stretching 20 or 25 years into the future, the math looks different now.

The U.S. currently produces around 100 gigawatts of nuclear power.

If Trump’s goal of reaching 400 gigawatts by 2050 comes anywhere close to reality, these three restarts will be remembered as the moment America changed course.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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