NextEra "Evaluating" Restart Of Iowa's Only Nuclear Plant As 'Next AI Trade' Gains Steam

Following the news of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant restart near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the Biden administration supplying a $1.5 billion loan to resurrect Holtec's Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, along with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google all jumping on the nuclear trade via the "next AI trade," the atomic era continues blasting off with news that another dormant nuclear plant, this time in Iowa, is slated for a possible restart.

On a Wednesday earnings call, NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum told investors that the company may restart the shuttered 600-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC), Iowa's only nuclear power plant. It's located on the west bank of the Cedar River, about eight miles northwest of Cedar Rapids. 

Earnings call... 

"As a top operator of all forms of power generation, we often get asked about nuclear and gas," Ketchum told investors. 

He explained, "Let me start with nuclear. Nuclear will play a role, but there are some practical limitations. Remember, on a national level, we expect we are going to need to add 900 gigawatts of new generation to the grid by 2040," adding, "There are only a few nuclear plants that can be recommissioned in an economic way. We are currently evaluating the recommissioning of our Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa as one example." 

DAEC began operations in early 1975 and operated for decades. In August 2020, the facility's cooling towers were damaged in a weather-related event, and repairs were deemed uneconomical. NextEra owns about a 70% stake in DAEC.

Jefferies analyst Dumoulin Smith told clients in a note that DAEC would be costly to restart...

"We believe a Duane Arnold restart is challenging, given the plant damage and robust regional wind generation."

Bloomberg quoted NextEra Energy President Rebecca Kujawa as saying that DAEC's potential customers could include two Fortune 50 customers: 

"This is a robust sign of a significant, broad-based demand," Kujawa said on the call. "They have big, important and urgent energy needs." 

The latest news from big tech firms diving into nuclear and reviving the industry provides a substantial tailwind for our "Next AI Trade" which we laid out in April as our long-term favorite trade, and where we outlined various investment opportunities for powering up America, playing out.

Here's our latest coverage of the big atomic revival:

• Nuclear Names Surge After Three Mile Island Planned Restart To Power Microsoft Data Centers

• Sam Altman-Backed Nuclear Startup Oklo Signs Agreement With Dept. Of Energy For Next Phase Of Siting In Idaho

• Nuclear Is Back: U.S. Closes On $1.5 Billion Loan To Resurrect Holtec's Palisades Nuclear Plant

• Google Turns To Nuclear To Power Its Data Centers

• Google Agrees To Buy Nuclear Power From Small Modular Reactors To Be Built By Kairos Power

Let's take a step back to December 2020, nearly four years ago, when we first introduced the nuclear theme to readers with the headline: "Buy Uranium: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze."