Investing.com – Nextera Energy (NYSE:) has said it is making progress in evaluating the recommendation of its Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa and could restart operations in late 2028, the company said on Friday.
An increase in demand for the energy needed to support data centers that support the development of artificial intelligence has recently bolstered the electric utility industry.
The trend has subsequently supported a rebound in the nuclear industry after a period of weak economic and safety concerns contributed to the closure of more than a dozen reactors since 2012.
In a statement, Nextera said it had filed a notice with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to request a license change, calling it “an important first step” in setting the path to restore the Duane Arnold site's operating license and reopen it to end of 2028.
The longer a nuclear plant remains, the more likely it is that there may be corrosion or other problems affecting the site. Duane Arnold, which closed in August 2020, is seen by analysts as one of the likely candidates to reopen because it closed relatively recently, Reuters reported.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Santee Cooper is looking for buyers to revive construction of a pair of nuclear reactors in South Carolina that was halted years ago. Microsoft (NASDAQ:) has previously announced an agreement with constellation energy (NASDAQ:) to also reopen Pennsylvania's three-mile island, while Google owner amazon (NASDAQ:) has signed deals to help finance nuclear power projects.
Other groups, including Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and facebook-Parrent meta (NASDAQ:), have also shown interest in backing other nuclear power proposals.
Elsewhere, Florida-based Nextera, whose operations include a major U.S.-regulated electric utility and the world's largest renewable energy business, reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.53, compared with Bloomberg consensus estimates of $0.54 and $0.52 a year.
Operating income came in at $5.39 billion, well below expectations of $7.7 billion.
Still, Nextera backed its current-year forecast for adjusted earnings per share of $3.45 to $3.70, and its 2026 outlook of $3.63 to $4.00. The company also sees a 6% to 8% annual growth rate through 2027.
“Given the strength of both of our businesses, we will be disappointed if we are unable to deliver financial results at or near the top of our earnings per share expectation ranges in each year through 2027,” CEO John Ketchum said in a statement.
Shares in Nextera fell by more than 2% in pre-US trading.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
