Trump closes $1.9 billion loan to restart nuclear power plant in Iowa

This marks the third nuclear power plant that the administration has committed to providing funding to restart, as it seeks to bolster the nuclear energy industry in the United States and secure enough baseload power to fuel its race for artificial intelligence. The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing, formerly known as the Loan Programs Office, announced on Tuesday that it closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion to NextEra Energy. The funds will help finance the restart of the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Linn County, Iowa, which closed its doors in 2020 after one of its major customers ended its power purchase agreement. The plant had been licensed to operate until 2034. NextEra Energy first explored reopening the facility in early 2025, when it filed a request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the time, the company said it hoped to restore the facility’s operating license to restart operations as early as the end of 2028. The Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant first opened in February 1975. The Trump administration has said the reopening of the facility will add 615 megawatts of power back on the grid, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes. It is also expected to create nearly 1,500 jobs during construction. “President Trump called for a nuclear renaissance, and the Department of Energy is delivering,” EDF Director Greg Beard said in a statement. “Duane Arnold is exactly the kind of investment that will help restore American nuclear leadership, strengthen our energy security, and deliver the affordable, reliable power Americans need to fuel our nation’s future.”The loan followed similar agreements struck to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center, and the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan. The administration finalized a $1 billion conditional loan commitment for Three Mile Island in November. Constellation Energy and Microsoft aim to bring the plant back online as early as next year. The loan for the Palisades facility was finalized under the Biden administration, though Trump’s Department of Energy has continued to issue funds over the last year and a half. Holtec International began loading nuclear fuel back into the power plant last week. A NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE COULD BE AN IMPORTANT TRUMP LEGACYIn addition to restarting shuttered nuclear power plants, the Trump administration is financing the construction of advanced nuclear reactors, as well as traditional large reactors. In June, the administration said it would be issuing $17.5 billion in loans to support the development of 10 new large reactors, with the hope that they would be under construction by the end of the decade and operational by the mid-2030s.