The DOE closed a $1.9 billion loan this week to restart Duane Arnold, Iowa's only nuclear plant, backed by a Google power contract, the third reactor restart the agency has financed.
In context: AI-driven power demand keeps outpacing what reactors can supply today, and this week's deals show capital moving well ahead of construction: a federal restart loan, a multi-year fuel contract, and a hyperscaler's nuclear power purchase in Finland.
Market signal
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▲ News hot
DOE closes a restart loan for Duane Arnold; Centrus signs a multi-year HALEU supply deal with Radiant; Orano and KHNP sign an enrichment cooperation LOI in Paris
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▼ Market cold
NEE 1.4% lower to $82.65, the session the loan closed
Centrus (LEU) 2.2% lower to $181.49
Oklo (OKLO) 1.7% lower to $42.57
same close of trading
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Two federally-anchored nuclear contracts landed this week, a restart loan and a multi-year fuel supply deal, yet NextEra, Centrus, and Oklo all closed lower the same day, a reminder that deal announcements and quarterly price moves run on separate clocks.
This week at a glance
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DOE's
Nuclear Energy Launch Pad named 13 projects across 12 developers in its second selection round, more than tripling the four-project roster from its April debut
Deployable Energy and Radiant Nuclear are the only repeat Launch Pad winners; Antares, Oklo, and Valar arrive from DOE's separate Reactor Pilot Program, alongside newcomers Lightbridge, Nusano, and Hexium.
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Rolls-Royce SMR signed an
MoU with ABB to explore automation and electrification systems for its 470 MWe SMR fleet
The partnership adds an industrial-controls vendor as Rolls-Royce works UK and Czech SMR sites at once.
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Kazatomprom's
TQZ sulfuric acid plant delay now has a number: commissioning slides six to twelve months, from Q1 2027 to a Q3 2027–Q1 2028 window
The world's largest uranium producer still expects no material hit to mining output while it evaluates existing acid sources.
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NRC's
modernization rule takes effect October 26 unless adverse comments arrive by September 10
The direct final rule streamlines rulemaking procedure and advisory-committee alignment, separate from the Part 51 NEPA overhaul still in drafting.
Source → live map at getentel.com/nukemap
Stat of the week
2.1M
Pounds of uranium concentrate (U3O8) US mines produced in 2025, more than tripling 2024's 657,000 pounds and marking the highest domestic output since 2017, per EIA. Even with the surge, US-origin material covered only 7% of what fueled American reactors last year; Canada, Kazakhstan, and Australia supplied most of the rest.
In depth
Reference: terms in this issue
Office of Energy Dominance Financing: DOE's project-finance arm, renamed from the Loan Programs Office, that issues loans and loan guarantees to energy infrastructure projects too large or early-stage for conventional bank financing.
Unobligated (fuel): Enriched uranium produced without Russian-obligated technology or feedstock, so it carries none of the foreign-use restrictions that would otherwise limit its resale or use in national-security applications.
Direct final rule: An NRC rulemaking shortcut for changes the agency considers non-controversial: the rule takes effect automatically on its stated date unless significant adverse public comments arrive first.
Construction
Duane Arnold: The Second Restart Loan Closes
Before: NextEra's Duane Arnold shut down in 2020 after four decades of operation. DOE had already financed restarts at two other shut reactors: Palisades (2024 loan guarantee) and Constellation's Crane, formerly Three Mile Island (2025 loan).
Now: DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing
closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion September 8 to restart the 615 MWe plant in Palo, Iowa, the largest of the three restart loans EDF has issued. The loan is backed by a
25-year power purchase agreement Google signed last year; NextEra targets restart by 2029, pending NRC licensing approvals. DOE projects roughly 1,500 construction jobs, more than 450 permanent operating jobs, and
more than $9 billion in economic benefit for Iowa over 25 years.
→ Whether NRC licensing review keeps pace with the 2029 restart target
Deal
Centrus Locks In Radiant's Fuel Supply for Kaleidos
Before: Radiant's Kaleidos microreactor completed its move to INL's DOME facility in August and has TRISO (tri-structural isotropic) fuel on-site for testing, but the company had no long-term commercial HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium, the fuel advanced reactors run on) supplier under contract for its planned reactor fleet.
Now: Centrus
signed a definitive multi-year agreement September 9 to supply HALEU for multiple Kaleidos units, with deliveries beginning before the end of the decade from its Piketon, Ohio enrichment plant. The fuel is
unobligated, meaning it carries no foreign-use restrictions, so it can also serve national-security customers; Radiant is prepaying Centrus to help fund Piketon's capacity build-out. Centrus CEO Amir Vexler said the deal "strengthens the US-based fuel supply network."
→ Whether Piketon's build-out keeps pace with new offtake commitments
Geopolitical
France and South Korea Deepen Their Enrichment Bet
Before: KHNP and Orano signed an April 2026 MOU covering broad nuclear fuel-cycle cooperation during President Macron's visit to Seoul. KHNP has held a 2.5% stake in Orano's Georges Besse II enrichment plant since 2009, but the two had not carved out a framework focused specifically on enrichment.
Now: The companies
signed a letter of intent September 8 at the Élysée Palace, during South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's state visit to France, narrowing April's broad MOU into a dedicated long-term enrichment cooperation track. KHNP CEO Kim Hoe-chun cited "growing uncertainty in the global nuclear fuel market" as the reason to lock in Western supply; Orano chairman Claude Imauven called it a chance to deepen the relationship.
→ Whether the LOI converts into a binding supply contract with defined volumes
Global signal
Finland
Google signed a
22-year PPA, effective 2028, for half of Fortum's Loviisa plant output from 2030 through 2049.
The contract unlocks roughly €1 billion for life-extension work keeping Loviisa running past 2030 toward 2050.
Question of the week
“The DOE just financed a third shut US reactor restart with a 1.9 billion dollar loan, backed by a hyperscaler power contract. Is federal restart financing becoming a repeatable playbook, or does it only work when a hyperscaler already committed to buy the power?
Reply to this email with your take.
The open beta, October 1
The Wire is the research. The application is where that research lives: 31 projects, the stage each one sits on, and the filing that put it there. Ninety days free, no card. What we ask back is that you tell us the day a row is wrong.
Until next Thursday,
Jace Arnold
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Companion tool: fuel.jrand.net. Live UF6 conversion capacity, by facility.