Big Tech's Next Nuclear Bet: More Power From Reactors Already Running
Data Center Frontier, Friday, October 23rd, 2026
Google, Amazon and Meta are funding uprates at existing nuclear plants, adding capacity without building new reactors.
Google and Amazon have signed agreements with Constellation Energy that support about 1,080MW of additional nuclear generation from existing reactors, and Meta is backing uprates at plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
Under Google's 20-year deal, Constellation will invest more than $4.3 billion upgrading 11 reactor units, with first output in 2028.
The NRC expects 31 uprate applications through 2032, worth about 2.4GW.
Uprates avoid building new reactors but still involve multiyear timelines for equipment, outages and approvals, and FERC's rejection of parts of PJM's large-load framework shows the gap between financing generation and delivering power to individual sites.