Constellation Deal With Meta Symbolizes A Growing Nuclear Revival

Power generation company Constellation Energy announced its second deal to supply nuclear-generated power to a major tech firm’s datacenters in the last 8 months on Tuesday, June 3. In a release, Constellation detailed an agreement with Meta, led by CEO and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, to 1,121 MW of power from its Illinois-based Clinton Nuclear Clean Energy Center for Meta’s operations in the region over 20 years.

The deal with Meta comes a little more than 8 months after a similar deal Constellation inked with another tech giant, Microsoft. That arrangement involves the reactivation of Unit 1 of Constellation’s Pennsylvania-based Three Mile Island facility (recently renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center) to power Microsoft’s nearby datacenter installations under a similar, 20-year power supply agreement.

“We are excited to partner with Constellation and the Clinton community to ensure the long-term operations of the nuclear plant, add new capacity, and help preserve over 1,000 jobs. Securing clean, reliable energy is necessary to continue advancing our AI ambitions,” said Urvi Parekh, Head of Global Energy at Meta. “We are proud to help keep the Clinton plant operating for years to come and demonstrate that this plant is an important piece to strengthening American leadership in energy.”

A Nuclear Facility Formerly Scheduled For Retirement

The Clinton Center had been scheduled for premature closure by Constellation in 2017 following years of suffering financial losses. But the Illinois legislature stepped in to pass The Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) to avert the closure. The FEJA, signed into law in January 2017 by then-Governor Bruce Rauner, established a Zero Emission Credit program which provides financial support to the plant through mid-2027. Now, the new deal with Meta promises to provide for the plant’s continued operations for an additional 20 years.

In its release, Constellation cites a March 2025 analysis by The Brattle Group which found that “shuttering Clinton would raise emissions by more than 34 million metric tons of carbon over 20 years, the equivalent to putting approximately 7.4 million gasoline-powered cars on the road for a year.” Constellation adds that the facility supports more than 530 direct jobs, pays more than $13 million in state and local annual taxes, and generates $765 million in annual Illinois GDP.

The Clinton Center is up for relicensing in 2027, when its initial 40-year permitted life will expire. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the ability to grant an additional 20-year extension. Constellation says this deal and the potential for the extension being approved now enable it to start to evaluate “strategies to extend the plant’s existing early site permit or seek a new construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to pursue development of an advanced nuclear reactor or small modular reactor (SMR) at the Clinton Clean Energy Center site.”

A Bright Future for Nuclear and AI Collaboration

The two deals made by Constellation and other efforts to extend the lifespans of existing nuclear facilities are emblematic of a general rebound in public attitudes about nuclear power in recent years. This is an industry whose public reputation cratered following the unlucky coincidence of the 1979 incident at the Three Mile Island facility coming closely on the heels of the release of The China Syndrome film starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas.

That movie had initially opened to smallish audiences in March 1979, but became a major hit when the near-meltdown at Three Mile Island took place 12 days later. The resulting near national panic about the alleged dangers of nuclear power generation caused reputational harm which took decades to repair despite the industry’s overall outstanding record for safety. But a Gallup poll published in April shows that 61% of U.S. adults now favor the use of nuclear generation for electricity.

As I noted here last week, the deal between Constellation and Meta also comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s signing of a series of four executive orders designed to provide a policy boost to the U.S. nuclear industry in a ceremony attended by Constellation president and CEO Joseph Dominguez. One of those orders instructs the NRC to speed up its permitting decisions, including for extensions like the one Constellation is seeking for its Clinton facility.

The shifting public attitudes, combined with advancements in traditional nuclear technology and development of new technologies, along with a more favorable policy environment combine to create rising optimism that nuclear can become the preferred zero-emissions generation source of the future. The fact that nuclear power’s emissions profile merges nicely with the emissions reduction goals of these major AI datacenter developers is like icing on the cake.