Duane Arnold Restart: 615 MW Targeted for Q1 2029 for Google

NextEra Energy plans to bring Iowa's 615 MW Duane Arnold nuclear plant back by the first quarter of 2029 to supply Google under a 25-year power purchase agreement, and Google is now planning a data center beside it: Iowa Public Radio reported on Oct. 30, 2026 that Google will ask Palo to annex a 650-acre site next to the plant, with the town's planning and zoning commission set to review the request on Nov. 9. Voltgrid covered the campus plan as news on Oct. 31; this file sets out the restart behind it.

The plant has been shut since Aug. 10, 2020, and its restart is not yet approved. NRC staff told NextEra in a March 25, 2026 letter that they expect to issue their final decisions on the restart licensing actions by Jan. 29, 2028, an estimate the NRC says may change. Google hopes its Palo campus starts operating at the end of 2028, according to Iowa Public Radio, just ahead of NextEra's Q1 2029 target. Google has signed a 25-year agreement to buy the plant's power once it runs; whether it arrives on time turns on the NRC, the plant's condition and a tight schedule.

How the Duane Arnold Restart Works

Duane Arnold is a single General Electric boiling water reactor, a General Electric Type 4 design with a Mark I wet containment, licensed by the NRC for 1,912 MWt of thermal power. NextEra calls it a 615 MW plant and World Nuclear News puts it at 615 MWe; neither source says whether that figure is net or gross.

The one idea that matters is that this is a restart, not a new build. Its renewed licence, DPR-49, runs to Feb. 21, 2034, so NextEra is not applying for a new licence. It is asking the NRC to restore the licence's operating basis, which the plant left when it entered decommissioning after the 2020 shutdown. That takes an exemption from the NRC's licence-termination rules plus three amendments, all needed before fuel can be loaded: one to the licence and technical specifications, one to the security plan and one to the emergency plan. The NRC chose to review the environmental effects in an environmental assessment rather than a full environmental impact statement.

The 2034 expiry is the catch. If the 25-year term runs from the restart, it would extend past the 2034 expiry and so depend on a subsequent licence renewal, which NextEra told the NRC on Jan. 23, 2025 it intends to seek. NextEra's release does not say when the term starts.

Google PPA, CIPCO Share and DOE Loan

NextEra and Google announced the agreement on Oct. 28, 2025. Google will buy power from the plant once it runs, as round-the-clock carbon-free energy for its growing cloud and AI infrastructure in Iowa, under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) buys the remaining output on the same terms. NextEra has not split the 615 MW between the two buyers, and no price was disclosed. NextEra said the agreement with Google pays for the restart investment and the cost of producing the energy, and that Iowa customers will not bear the cost of Google's power.

NextEra signed definitive agreements to buy the combined 30% stake held by CIPCO and Corn Belt Power Cooperative, which takes it to 100% ownership. The NRC approved that licence transfer on March 30, 2026.

A federal loan is in place. The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Dominance Financing announced on Sept. 8, 2026 that it had closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion to NextEra to help finance the restart. DOE says the restart still depends on NRC licensing approvals. Alongside the restart, NextEra and Google signed a separate agreement in October 2025 to explore new nuclear generation in the U.S.; no capacity or terms have been given for it.

NRC Licensing Timeline for the Restart

NextEra filed the exemption request on Jan. 23, 2025 and the three amendment requests on Nov. 20, 2025, Dec. 17, 2025 and Jan. 30, 2026. The NRC's March 25 letter estimates 5,545 hours of staff and contractor work for the safety and environmental reviews. It also records that NextEra's own working schedule was to return the plant to operational status in early 2028, which sits ahead of the company's public Q1 2029 target.

The amendments drew a challenge. After the NRC published the opportunity to request a hearing on April 22, 2026, Physicians for Social Responsibility Iowa filed a hearing request on June 22, 2026. A three-judge Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, chaired by Stefan R. Wolfe, was established by a notice dated June 24 and published in the Federal Register on June 29. On Sept. 24, 2026 the board issued LBP-26-9, a memorandum and order denying the hearing request and ending the proceeding on the three licence amendments (docket 50-331-LA). It found that PSR Iowa has standing but none of its five contentions is admissible: four challenged the NRC's environmental review and one argued the NRC has no authority to approve a restart, which the board said Commission precedent in the Palisades case forecloses. The exemption request was not part of the hearing opportunity. The order points any appeal to 10 CFR 2.311, and Voltgrid found no record of one.

Why a Hearing Denial Does Not Approve the Restart

The NRC's licensing board decides only who may argue a licence case. On Sept. 24, 2026 it found that Physicians for Social Responsibility Iowa has standing but filed no admissible contention, so it denied the hearing request and ended the proceeding on the three licence amendments (LBP-26-9). None of the five contentions raised radiological safety; four challenged the environmental review and one argued the NRC cannot approve a restart.

The denial removes one obstacle; it is not an approval. NRC staff still have to issue the final environmental assessment, projected for fall 2026, and then decide the exemption and three amendments, which they estimate by Jan. 29, 2028, an estimate that may change. The order points any appeal to 10 CFR 2.311, and Voltgrid found no record of one.

The environmental review is further along. NextEra submitted its environmental report on Nov. 10, 2025. The NRC issued a draft environmental assessment and a draft finding of no significant impact on July 30, 2026, and comments closed on Sept. 2. The agency projects the final assessment and finding for fall 2026; none had appeared in the Federal Register as of Nov. 2. At the state level, the Iowa Utilities Commission issued a certificate in June 2026 authorising the plant's construction and operation, World Nuclear News reported.

What It Means for Google's Iowa Data Centers

The restart gives Google a contracted share of 615 MW of existing nuclear output in Iowa, delivered to the grid rather than behind the meter. Iowa Public Radio gives no megawatt figure for the Palo campus and does not say it will draw the plant's output directly. A Google-funded county water study is due in March 2027.

Among the other two U.S. restarts, Constellation's Crane Clean Energy Center, about 835 MW for Microsoft, received its final environmental assessment and finding on Sept. 18, 2026, with NRC decisions estimated by March 4, 2027, as our Crane project file sets out. Holtec's 805 MWe Palisades plant has no restart date after a fuel-loading problem, as our Palisades file shows. By stated output, Duane Arnold is the smallest of the three and carries the latest public target.

What to Watch Next

The Palo planning and zoning commission reviews Google's annexation on Nov. 9, 2026. The NRC's final environmental assessment and finding are projected for fall 2026. NRC staff estimate final decisions on the restart licensing actions by Jan. 29, 2028. Google hopes to open the Palo campus at the end of 2028, and NextEra targets power from Duane Arnold by the first quarter of 2029. Still undisclosed: the PPA price, Google's share in megawatts, fuel supply and the campus load.