* Crain’s…
Google is bankrolling a $4.3 billion upgrade of Constellation nuclear facilities across the PJM grid, roughly half of it in Illinois.
As part of a deal announced today, Constellation will add 450 megawatts of electricity generation capacity at its Braidwood, Byron, LaSalle and Quad Cities nuclear plants through $2 billion in facility upgrades. […]
Under the agreement with Constellation, Google is funding $2 billion of improvements at four nuclear plants in Illinois — such as modernizing and upgrading turbines, steam generators and digital control systems — which will result in additional power generation.
It’s part of a broader deal in which Google is committing to purchase 2,700 megawatts of power from Constellation across its territory over the next 15 years. Constellation also will use Google’s commercial cloud-computing and artificial intelligence products to use AI to reduce costs and increase performance in delivery power.
* Sen. Sue Rezin…
State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris), a longtime advocate and national leader for expanding nuclear energy in Illinois, is welcoming a major new investment in the state’s nuclear fleet that is expected to create approximately 4,200 construction jobs while helping sustain 3,600 existing jobs. […]
The announcement is particularly significant for Rezin’s 38th Senate District. Rezin represents the surrounding areas where the Braidwood and LaSalle nuclear plants are located, including communities where many of the employees who operate and maintain the facilities live and raise their families. The planned upgrades at those facilities will be part of the approximately 4,200 construction jobs expected to be created across Illinois while helping support the state’s existing nuclear workforce.
* Tribune…
The announcement represents “responsible growth,” Pat Devaney, secretary treasurer of Illinois AFL-CIO, said in a statement to the Tribune. The federation represents almost 900,000 workers in Illinois, according to its website. […]
While it’s good to see investment in more energy sources, Jennifer Walling, CEO of the Illinois Environmental Council, said she’s concerned about Google supporting nuclear and methane instead of renewable sources like wind and solar.
The tech company last year announced it had agreed to purchase the majority of power expected to be produced at a natural gas plant being built at an ADM site in Decatur, according to the city’s website.
The Illinois Environmental Council is in general opposed to nuclear power, although Walling said it has supported packages that have included both when the renewable investments outweigh the nuclear investments.
* Related…
* NYT | A New Trend in Nuclear Energy: Squeezing More Power Out of Old Plants: With demand for power rising as artificial intelligence booms, many tech giants are eager to pay for these upgrades. Increasing production from existing nuclear plants could ultimately add as much as 6,000 to 8,000 megawatts of electric capacity to U.S. grids, companies and analysts estimate. That’s roughly the equivalent to building six to eight giant new reactors. Google, for example, is investing in new nuclear plants to fuel its data centers. But uprating older plants is “the fastest way to get new additional clean capacity online confidently and reliably,” Amanda Peterson Corio, the company’s global head of energy and power, said in an interview.
* Reuters | Google enters massive 3.6-GW power deal with Constellation Energy: Joe Dominguez, chairman, president and CEO of Constellation, said the arrangement with Google is a “model for how technology companies and the energy industry can work together to responsibly develop the digital economy and invest in our nation’s energy infrastructure in a way that delivers grid-wide benefits for all, funded by private entities.”
* Bloomberg | Trump-Backed Nuclear Plant Settles Cancer, Contamination Lawsuits: Solstice Advanced Materials, the corporate owner of a nuclear fuel facility at the heart of President Donald Trump’s push for a nuclear renaissance, has agreed to pay $80 million to settle claims that the plant for decades spewed radiation over an Illinois town, sickened residents and contaminated properties. Built in the 1950s on the outskirts of tiny Metropolis, the plant is the only facility of its kind in the US, transforming finely milled uranium ore into a gas called uranium hexafluoride, or UF₆, the key ingredient in nuclear fuel. As part of the conversion process, the plant emits radiotoxic material that litigants alleged have accumulated on homes, buildings, parks and playgrounds, causing property damage and an increase in brain, lung and other cancers.
