Why are tech companies signing nuclear deals and restarting old reactors?

Technology companies are signing nuclear deals because data centers need a lot of steady electricity, and a few old reactors can supply it. The deals are part of what some call a nuclear revival. Microsoft agreed to buy as much electricity as possible for 20 years from Unit 1 of Three Mile Island, which Constellation plans to reopen as the Crane Clean Energy Center. In October 2025 Google and NextEra announced a plan to restart the Duane Arnold plant in Iowa, citing demand from Google's AI data centers.

The word renaissance is old. Since about 2001 it has described a possible revival driven by fossil fuel prices and limits on greenhouse gases. The revival kept stalling: after the Fukushima accident in 2011, several countries, including Germany, announced a complete withdrawal from nuclear electricity, and in 2017 Westinghouse, maker of the AP1000 reactor, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Three Mile Island is a loaded name. Its Unit 2 had a partial meltdown in 1979, which, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, caused no deaths or injuries to workers or nearby communities. Unit 1 ran on, lost money for Exelon from 2015, and shut down on 20 September 2019. In September 2024 Constellation announced plans to invest 1.6 billion dollars to bring it back, and it is expected to resume operations in 2027.

Not everyone sees it the same way. Opponents of nuclear power point to threats such as weapons proliferation, long-term waste management and terrorism, and many opponents find that it cannot meaningfully help fight climate change. Supporters point to the demand for steady power. These are plans as of October 2026, and their dates may move.