Trump DOE loans $5B to nuclear plants that will power data centers

Constellation Energy will get $5 billion in government loans to modernize nuclear reactors. Most of the new capacity is already committed to Google, Amazon, and Meta. The Trump administration is giving Constellation Energy $5 billion in loans to expand nuclear generating capacity at eight power plants by 1.1 gigawatts. Most or all of the additional power from seven of those facilities has already been bought by Google, Meta, or Amazon. Constellation said it plans to use the financing to “uprate” 11 existing reactors, an industry term for expanding capacity at a reactor, often by using more highly enriched uranium and by upgrading equipment to handle the increased power levels. The energy company said it had already committed to spending more than $7 billion to add 1,080 megawatts of nuclear capacity to deliver power to Google, Amazon, and Meta.

The loan commitment, which has yet to be finalized, “could lower financing costs” for the projects, Constellation said in a press release. The eight power plants include six in Illinois (Braidwood, Byron, Clinton, Dresden, La Salle, and Quad Cities), one in Maryland (Calvert Cliffs), and one in Pennsylvania (Limerick). Google is already the confirmed buyer of additional power from the Pennsylvania plant and four Illinois power plants, while Amazon is buying electricity from the Maryland plant and Meta is effectively buying the