NextEra Energy considering Duane Arnold plant restart
The Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa could see new life, according to NextEra Energy chief executive officer John Ketchum.
“There would be opportunities and a lot of demand from the market if we were able to do something with Duane Arnold,” Ketchum said on Wednesday this week during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
“We’re looking at it,” he added. “But we would only do it if we could do it in a way that is essentially risk free with plenty of mitigants around the approach.”
Ketchum
About the plant: NextEra shut down the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, Iowa, in October 2020, after ending its power purchase agreement with key customer Alliant Energy. It was one of a dozen nuclear reactors in the U.S. to close in the 2013–2021 period.
The single-unit, 622-MWe reactor first came on line in 1975 and was licensed to operate until 2034, but the company closed the plant early due to cost-competitiveness issues in the energy market.
Ketchum said a thorough review of the risks is needed to see if restarting the reactor is feasible.
“Obviously, bringing back a nuclear plant is . . . not something you can do without a lot of thought,” he said.
Demand for nuclear: With energy demand on the rise and expected to soar in the coming years due to the demand for data centers, in part to power artificial intelligence technology, there’s renewed interest in carbon-free, reliable nuclear power.
Holtec is actively working on plans to restart its Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, and Constellation is exploring the possibility of bringing its Three Mile Island unit in Pennsylvania back on line.
“The existing nuclear plants are the hottest thing in power right now,” Mark Nelson, founder of Radiant Energy Group, said on CNBC’s Last Call in June. “They’re going to be able to nearly name their price to build out to data centers that are parked right at their gate.”
Other earnings report news: NextEra, which has the world’s largest renewable energy business, expects to see triple the demand for new renewables in the next seven years. The company currently has a 7-GW renewables portfolio with technology and data center customers, including assets in operation and backlog.
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