The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved NextEra Energy’s request for a waiver allowing the company to move forward with plans to recommission the shuttered Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Palo.
The Linn County Board of Supervisors has unanimously advanced a proposal to add nuclear energy generation to the county’s zoning code.
Public input on the matter will be accepted at the board’s next three meetings.
NextEra representatives, during a meeting with nuclear regulators Thursday, said the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo, which closed in 2020, needs “a few major pieces of equipment” before it can restart, including cooling towers, the restoration of transmission lines, new offices, warehouse buildings and a new sewage treatment system.
The nation’s dwindling fleet of nuclear plants — including the shuttered Duane Arnold plant in Palo — is being seized upon as one of the most viable ways to quickly feed tech firms’ growing thirst for electricity to power the giant data centers needed for AI projects.
The commission unanimously approved the draft code at its Monday meeting. Now, it heads to the Board of Supervisors.
Linn County is seeking citizen feedback on its proposed nuclear zoning code ahead of next week’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
The task force would make recommendations about adding nuclear energy to Iowa’s energy portfolio.
Clean energy advocates say Iowa stands to lose jobs, manufacturing facilities, renewable energy project expansions and face more expensive utility bills if Congress passes the budget reconciliation bill as is.
The company says the solar field near Palo is the largest in Iowa.
The Duane Arnold Energy Center’s nuclear reactor might be active again in 2028, potentially making it the third ever decommissioned plant in the United States to resume operation.
Support coming from younger people, new technologies
The company that owns the only nuclear power plant in Iowa — located near Palo — indicated Friday it has moved to restore the site’s operating license.
In a company earnings call Wednesday, NextEra’s CEO said the company is seeing strong interest from data center customers, and it’s conducting engineering studies and talking to regulators to determine whether the Duane Arnold nuclear plant can be reopened.
Emergency managers in Linn and Johnson counties said they haven’t heard anything about resuming nuclear power generation at the Duane Arnold Energy Center, near Palo, which would be costly and would require federal authorization.
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