Nuclear power station at Clinton, in the US state Illinois, photo: John Dixon / AP / Profimedia Images
Meta, the company founded and run by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, signed a 20 -year -old contract with Constellation Energy to maintain a nuclear power plant in the American state of Illinois, who faced an uncertain future with the expiration of state subsidies in 2027, The Register reports.
The agreement, announced this week by both companies, will keep the Clinton clean energy power plant in operation and after the conclusion of the Illinois state emission credits program, in 2027. According to the statements, the understanding also includes a capacity increase by 30 MW, which will raise the total capacity of the boiler to 1.121 MW.
Meta said that this energy purchase agreement (PPA-“Power Purchase Agreement”) will be used to support the growing energy consumption of its infrastructure you have the company declared for the Tech the Register website that it will use its new commitment to nuclear energy to reduce its carbon emissions.
Constellation said that the agreement, whose financial details were not made public, could also include an additional expansion of the Clinton power plant.
The energy supplier said in his statement that he “evaluates strategies” to extend a location permit or to request a construction permit from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in order to install an advanced nuclear reactor or a small modular reactor (SMR) – similar to the ones that the American company wants to build in Romania.
Meta and Constellation claim to have ambitious plans for the nuclear power station
If Meta and Constellation are advancing, Clinton could only become the second US site that will host a nuclear reactor built in the 21st century, after the Vogtle Plant in Georgia. Although the nuclear regulatory commission approved the first SMR almost three years ago, no one is being built in the US.
The Clinton power plant was put into operation in 1987 and was scheduled for anticipated closure in 2017, due to financial losses, until a law adopted at the extended level of operation through a zero emission credits program (TEC). This support is concluded in July 2027, from which the 20 -year -old Meta contract enters into force, which ensures the clean energy delivery from the boiler and replaces the state subsidies.
Constellation has said that the PPA will keep the boiler in operation and continue to deliver clean energy “for decades”.
A report ordered by Constellation and published in March 2025 concluded that the closing of the Crinton plant would have led to 34 million additional carbon emissions over 20 years – the equivalent of emissions generated by the roads of another 7.4 million gasoline cars.
Why would a company invest as Meta in a nuclear power plant
The data centers are largely considered to some of the main factors of increasing the demand for electricity over the coming years, as the Revolution accelerates. Their energy demand is estimated to double by the end of the decade.
This puts the US energy networks in a difficult situation, and nuclear energy could be the only viable solution that does not pollute the environment and does not accelerate climatic changes.
The Register notes that, therefore, for the meta partnership with Constellation makes sense, especially given that this is the largest nuclear energy operator. Last year, Constellation also collaborated with Microsoft to restart reactor 1 at the Three Mile Island power plant – the place of the worst nuclear accident in US history.
Meta also stated that she continues her efforts to contribute to the development of another 1 to 4 nuclear energy in the US and that she is already working on a short list of new nuclear projects that she could finance in several US states. The company said that he hopes to complete some agreements this year, but refused to provide details about the process or the total capacity of the projects.
However, no matter how much Meta reduces its emissions due to the nuclear agreement at Clinton, this is unlikely to compensate for the climatic impact of its new gas turbines that it built in another American state, Louisiana. With a production capacity of 2,262 MW, these new installations – no matter how temporary – generate more than twice as much energy as the Clinton nuclear power plant.
