The U.S. Department of Energy has closed a loan of as much as $1.9 billion to NextEra Energy to support the restart of the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa, according to a report from POWER Magazine. The move matters because it converts a previously announced policy direction into a concrete financing event for one of three U.S. nuclear plants being brought back online with support from the Office of Energy Dominance Financing, formerly the DOE's Loan Programs Office. Duane Arnold, Iowa's only nuclear power station, closed in August 2020 after 45 years of operation following damage from a derecho wind event, with officials partly determining it did not make economic sense to repair the plant at that time.
The restart is tied to rising electricity demand from data centers. NextEra has a 25-year power purchase agreement with Alphabet's Google to supply electricity for the technology company. The 615-MW facility in Palo, Linn County, is targeted to resume commercial operation in the first quarter of 2029, pending approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The DOE said the restart project will create about 1,500 jobs during construction and support more than 450 jobs during operations. NextEra has also signed definitive agreements to acquire Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative's combined 30% interest in the plant, which would leave NextEra as the sole owner, with CIPCO buying output under the same contract terms as Google.
The evidence comes from a single full-text secondary source, POWER Magazine, published on September 8, 2026. The report includes statements from NextEra CEO John Ketchum, who said restarting Duane Arnold is "about delivering new power to meet new demand while generating billions of dollars in economic value for Iowans," and from DOE Deputy Secretary James P. Daily, who said returning 615 megawatts of reliable baseload generation "will drive down electricity costs, while supporting thousands of American jobs." Gregory A. Beard, head of the EDF, said the project "is exactly the kind of investment that will help restore American nuclear leadership." The source does not provide independent corroboration of the loan closing beyond the DOE's statement, and no primary DOE document is cited in the dossier.
The restart places Duane Arnold alongside other formerly closed U.S. nuclear facilities being revived. A $1-billion conditional loan commitment for Three Mile Island, renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center, was finalized in November of last year, with Constellation Energy and Microsoft saying the plant could return online as early as next year. Financing to restart the Palisades station in Michigan was finalized during the Biden administration. The DOE in June of this year said it would commit as much as $17.5 billion to help finance five projects sponsored by utilities and energy companies to accelerate deployment of 10 large-scale commercial nuclear reactors, with Westinghouse partnering on AP1000 units and each project requiring $500 million in equity from both Westinghouse and its partner before accessing DOE loan funds.
The report leaves several material questions unanswered. It does not specify the exact loan amount within the "as much as $1.9 billion" ceiling, the interest rate, repayment terms, or conditions precedent to disbursement. It also does not detail the estimated total cost of the restart, the scope of repairs required after the 2020 derecho damage, or the timeline and criteria for NRC approval. The source does not provide independent analysis of whether the Google PPA alone is sufficient to support the project economics, nor does it address potential cost overruns or schedule risks. What to watch includes the NRC's regulatory review, any further DOE disclosures on loan terms, and whether the 2029 restart target holds as construction and repair work progresses.