Iowa's only nuclear plant, the 610 MWe Duane Arnold BWR, closed in August 2020 and was in decommissioning until NextEra moved to restart it. Under an October 2025 deal Google will buy its output for 25 years, and NextEra targets a return to service in early 2029 pending NRC approvals.
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Current state
| Status | Restart planned |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Palo, Iowa |
| Site | Duane Arnold Energy Center |
| Units | Unit 1 |
| Unit count | 1 |
| Reactor types | BWR |
| Net capacity (MWe) | 610 |
| Owner / licensee | NextEra Energy Duane Arnold LLC |
| Final shutdown | 2020-08-10 |
| Spent fuel | Spent fuel in the on-site general-license ISFSI. |
| Notable issue | Restart backed by a 25-year Google power purchase agreement. |
Notes
Restart, not decommissioning: covered in the restarts tracker under the same slug.
Timeline
- 2020-08-10 — Duane Arnold permanently ceased operations. (source)
- 2025-01-23 — NextEra made its first restart-related licensing submittals to the NRC. (source)
- 2025-10-28 — NextEra and Google announced a 25-year PPA underpinning a restart targeted for early 2029. (source)
- 2025-11-10 — NextEra submitted an Environmental Report to support the NRC's restart environmental review. (source)
The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.
Also tracked
NNN coverage
About Duane Arnold Energy Center
- The 6 nuclear stories that mattered this week 2026-09-12
- DOE closes $1.9B loan to restart NextEra's Duane Arnold plant 2026-09-09
- DOE offers Vistra up to $4.2B for nuclear uprates 2026-10-06
- Nuclear power for data centers, explained: every deal tracked 2026-10-01
- Google buys Loviisa nuclear power: 22-year PPA with Fortum to 2050 2026-09-12
- South Korea nears $100B deal to build eight US reactors 2026-09-11
Related sites
- Crystal River Unit 3 Site restoration · United States
- Dresden Unit 1 SAFSTOR · United States
- Fermi Unit 1 (Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant) SAFSTOR · United States
- Fort Calhoun Station Site restoration · United States
- GE Vallecitos (VBWR and EVESR) Active dismantling · United States
- Humboldt Bay Power Plant Unit 3 License terminated · United States
- Indian Point Energy Center (Units 1-3) Active dismantling · United States
- Kewaunee Power Station Active dismantling · United States
See all 72 sites in the Nuclear Decommissioning Tracker →
Sources
- Duane Arnold Energy Center — U.S. NRC (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Duane Arnold restart underpins NextEra Energy and Google collaboration — World Nuclear News, checked 2026-10-11
- NextEra considers new nuclear, progresses on restart — ANS Nuclear Newswire, checked 2026-10-11
- Locations of Power Reactor Sites Undergoing Decommissioning — U.S. NRC (primary), checked 2026-10-11