NextEra Energy partners with Google to restart Iowa nuclear plant

Oct 27 (Reuters) - U.S. utility NextEra Energy NEE.N and Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google have singed a power supply deal, which would help restart the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa.

After years of stagnation, the nuclear industry is witnessing a renaissance, driven by a huge surge in power demand as Big Tech looks for clean energy sources to power their data centers.

The roughly 600-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center was shut in 2020 after operating for 45 years. No fully shut U.S. nuclear reactor has been brought back to life, but Duane Arnold would be among three plants in the country in the process of attempted restarts.

Duane Arnold Energy Center, located in Palo, Iowa, is the only nuclear power plant in the state and is expected to reopen by first quarter of 2029, NextEra said.