Artificial intelligence requires massive amounts of electricity, and Google is turning to nuclear energy to keep its servers humming. The tech giant just locked in a major 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to expand atomic generation across the eastern United States, helping fuel its rapidly growing network of AI data centers.
Rather than building brand-new nuclear facilities, Google‘s partnership aims to upgrade existing infrastructure. Constellation will invest more than $4.3 billion to modernize 11 reactors across six sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Installing new digital control systems, advanced turbines, and updated steam generators will squeeze out an extra 890 megawatts of clean capacity by 2032. The first upgraded plant is expected to go live in 2028.
Relieving stress on the country’s largest power grid
All six nuclear plants connect directly to the PJM Interconnection grid, which supplies electricity to 67 million people across 13 states. PJM has struggled to handle rising power demands from data center hubs like Loudoun County, Virginia, where surging consumption has driven up regional electricity rates.
To offset grid strain, Google and Constellation structured the deal to boost overall capacity without pushing new infrastructure costs onto everyday consumers. On top of the 890-megawatt nuclear expansion, Google signed a separate 15-year agreement for an additional 2,700 megawatts from Constellation’s broader fleet. In return, Constellation signed a five-year contract to use Google Cloud and Gemini Enterprise tools to manage outage workflows and optimize generator dispatches.
Big Tech’s growing obsession with nuclear power
Google isn’t the only hyperscaler shopping for atomic power. Amazon Web Services recently secured 690 megawatts from Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs facility in Maryland. Plus, Microsoft partnered with the energy giant in 2024 to help restart Pennsylvania’s historic Three Mile Island plant.
AI expansion drove Google’s carbon emissions up 18% last year alongside a 37% leap in power demand. Amid this scenario, Amanda Peterson Corio—Google’s Global Head of Data Center Energy—noted that squeezing extra megawatts from existing nuclear plants offers the fastest, most cost-effective path toward cleaner grid capacity.
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