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Meta has signed a 20-year deal with a nuclear plant to buy electricity that will power the data centres behind its AI efforts.

Constellation Energy, which owns nuclear plants across the US, will sell the output of the Illinois-based Clinton Clean Energy Center to Meta from June 2027.

Nuclear energy provides consistent, reliable and high-capacity power, so it is particularly useful for keeping the lights on at data centres. It’s also a low-carbon form of energy for firms that have set themselves net zero targets.

Meta said: “We have heard from across the ecosystem that existing nuclear power plants will not be able to stay online indefinitely without partners and investments that help extend existing operating licenses and increase generation capacity. 

“It’s clear that there are many nuclear power plants serving the US that need long-term support to help our electricity grids remain reliable as energy needs grow. Keeping an existing plant operating will have the same positive effect as adding new clean energy to the grid, and avoid the disruption that has occurred when other nuclear units have retired prematurely.”

Clinton Clean Energy Center’s single nuclear reactor is capable of producing up to 1,092MW of energy and is situated next to a 5,000-acre cooling lake. The power plant began operation in 1987 with an initial 40-year licence to produce energy.

Exelon, the reactor’s former owner and operator, announced plans to permanently close the power station in June 2017 due to its struggles to compete economically in wholesale markets, which has resulted in a loss of millions of dollars in recent years. However, it was kept open after the Illinois state government passed legislation providing it with Zero Emission Credits that it could sell to businesses looking to lower their carbon impact.

Meta said the partnership will ensure the facility’s ongoing operation for two decades and preserve more than 1,100 local jobs.

In total, the tech giant is looking to deploy up to 4GW of new nuclear power by fielding proposals from developers to develop new generation capacity. Its request for proposals (RFP) programme aims to deliver the increased capacity beginning in the early 2030s.

“We are also continuing to focus on how Meta can spur new nuclear capacity by partnering to push forward the development of new locations for future nuclear power plants,” Meta said. 

“We have seen great progress on our nuclear RFP, which opened at the beginning of the year. Through our RFP, we’ve received over 50 qualified submissions from a range of participants in the nuclear ecosystem – including utilities, developers and nuclear technology manufacturers. Responses have reflected a diversity of technology options, commercial terms and sites across more than 20 states. 

“This RFP, targeted at catalysing early development activity for 1-4 gigawatts of nuclear energy projects, is prioritizing sites where nuclear development can be advanced quickly with high degrees of certainty on execution and timeline.”

Other tech firms, including Google, Amazon and Microsoft, are looking to nuclear power as a way to keep their data centres online. Microsoft is in discussions with Constellation Energy to reopen the nuclear plant on Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, which originally shut down in 2019.