The U.S. Department of Energy is giving NextEra Energy a loan of up to $1.9 billion to help them restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo.
Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly visited rural Linn County Tuesday to announce the loan. “This is part of the larger strategy that the administration has following President Trump’s executive orders to quadruple the total amount of nuclear power in the United States by 2050,” he says.
Most of the power produced by Duane Arnold will be bought by Google Energy. Google is eyeing nearby land for a data center, but enough will be used annually will serve roughly 300,000 nearby homes. Danly says there are other local benefits as well.
“We’re going to see an economic benefit of about nine billion dollars. That’s 40 million to local schools, 70 plus to taxes, 450 permanent jobs here,” Danly says.
The plant is scheduled to come online by 2029, pending regulatory approval.
(By Eliza Billingham, Iowa Public Radio)