Google’s revived nuclear power plant gets $1.9B loan from US government

谷歌重启核电站项目获美国政府 19 亿美元贷款

Last October, Google said it would bring an Iowa nuclear power plant back from the dead. Now the facility’s owner, NextEra Energy, has received a $1.9 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to finance the refurbishment. 去年 10 月，谷歌宣布将重启爱荷华州的一座核电站。如今，该设施的所有者 NextEra Energy 已获得美国能源部 19 亿美元的贷款，用于资助其翻新工程。

The sizable loan is the second of its kind, suggesting that the Trump administration views revived nuclear power as a key source of electricity for tech companies seeking to power their AI data centers. Last year, the Department of Energy extended a $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island. 这笔巨额贷款是同类贷款中的第二笔，表明特朗普政府将重启核电视为科技公司为其人工智能数据中心供电的关键电力来源。去年，美国能源部曾向星座能源公司（Constellation Energy）提供 10 亿美元贷款，用于重启三哩岛核电站的一个反应堆。

James Danly, Deputy Secretary of Energy, said that the Iowa power plant’s restart in 2029 will “drive down electricity costs,” though he did not explain how. Just 50 megawatts will be set aside for the local power cooperative, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said during an earnings call last year. That capacity would cover 18% of Iowa’s demand growth since 2021, the year before ChatGPT was released. 美国能源部副部长詹姆斯·丹利（James Danly）表示，该爱荷华州核电站于 2029 年重启后将“降低电力成本”，但他并未解释具体原因。NextEra 首席执行官约翰·凯彻姆（John Ketchum）在去年的一次财报电话会议上表示，其中仅有 50 兆瓦的电力将预留给当地的电力合作社。这一产能将满足爱荷华州自 2021 年（ChatGPT 发布前一年）以来 18% 的电力需求增长。

Google is reportedly looking to build up to six data centers near the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which hasn’t operated since 2020 when an intense rainstorm damaged the power plant. Rather than repair it, NextEra decided to mothball it. At the time, cheap natural gas was flooding the market, making nuclear power economically unappealing. 据报道，谷歌计划在杜安·阿诺德能源中心（Duane Arnold Energy Center）附近建造多达六个数据中心。该核电站自 2020 年遭遇强暴雨受损后便停止了运营。当时，NextEra 决定将其封存而非修复。在那时，廉价的天然气充斥市场，使得核电在经济上缺乏吸引力。

A lot has changed in the last six years, though. After decades of little growth in demand, the sudden rise of AI coupled with broader electrification of the economy meant that utilities and power providers were suddenly scrambling to find new generating sources of electricity. New data centers are expected to nearly triple the sector’s electricity demand by 2035. 然而，过去六年里情况发生了巨大变化。在经历了数十年的需求低增长后，人工智能的突然兴起以及经济的全面电气化，意味着公用事业公司和电力供应商突然开始争相寻找新的电力来源。预计到 2035 年，新的数据中心将使该行业的电力需求增加近两倍。

Shuttered nuclear power plants are becoming one of the tech industry’s favorite choices to quickly provide clean, firm power. Microsoft signed a deal with Constellation Energy two years ago to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island that last operated in 2019. The reactor is scheduled to restart in 2028 and generate 835 megawatts. 关闭的核电站正成为科技行业快速提供清洁、稳定电力的首选方案之一。两年前，微软与星座能源公司签署了一项协议，旨在重启三哩岛核电站一个自 2019 年以来就停止运行的反应堆。该反应堆计划于 2028 年重启，发电量为 835 兆瓦。

Another facility in Illinois, Constellation Energy’s Clinton Clean Energy Center, was in danger of closing down before its parent found a new customer in Meta, which is buying all of the clean energy attributes from the 1.1 gigawatt power plant. The arrangement will see Clinton sending its electrons to the local grid, while Meta will use the certificates to offset emissions it is producing elsewhere. 位于伊利诺伊州的另一处设施——星座能源旗下的克林顿清洁能源中心（Clinton Clean Energy Center）曾面临关闭风险，直到其母公司找到了新客户 Meta。Meta 将购买该 1.1 吉瓦核电站的所有清洁能源属性。根据协议，克林顿核电站将向当地电网输送电力，而 Meta 将利用这些证书来抵消其在其他地方产生的碳排放。

The tech giant’s Hyperion AI data center, for example, will need 10 natural gas power plants to operate. If completed, the data center will consume more electricity than all of South Dakota. Duane Arnold is smaller, but in the process of refurbishment, NextEra will squeeze an additional 14 megawatts from the facility, bringing the total to 615 megawatts. 例如，这家科技巨头的 Hyperion AI 数据中心将需要 10 座天然气发电厂才能运行。如果建成，该数据中心消耗的电力将超过整个南达科他州。杜安·阿诺德核电站规模较小，但在翻新过程中，NextEra 将从该设施中额外挖掘出 14 兆瓦的产能，使其总发电量达到 615 兆瓦。

Altogether, the three power plants represent the lowest hanging fruit in the U.S. There might be one or two more, according to a report from Utility Dive, though those candidates, including San Onofre in California, have been shuttered for longer and would require more work to bring back online. 总而言之，这三座核电站代表了美国目前最容易重启的项目。据 Utility Dive 的一份报告显示，可能还有一两个类似项目，但包括加州的圣奥诺弗雷（San Onofre）核电站在内的候选项目关闭时间更长，需要更多的工作才能重新上线。