The Iowa Utilities Commission will host an informational public meeting Thursday, Nov. 13 regarding the proposed restart of the Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear power plant.
The meeting is set to run from 6-8 p.m. at the Hawkeye Downs Expo Center, 4400 Sixth St. SW in Cedar Rapids.
According to a letter requesting the meeting, NextEra Duane Arnold LLC (NEDA) NEDA is seeking a Certificate of Public Convenience, Use and Necessity to restart the plant.
NextEra Duane Arnold is required to make a presentation at the meeting under the provisions of 199 Iowa Administrative Code 24.7(5). Under that code section, the applicant “shall provide qualified personnel to speak for the applicant” on issues including utility planning, details of construction or alteration, physical construction and appearance, any property rights the applicant may seek, negotiation procedures, how affected parties will be contacted, methods of compensation and conditional easements.
The meeting will also include a summary of the legal rights of affected landowners.
“The meeting shall be considered an opportunity for interested members of the public to
raise questions regarding the proposal, and an opportunity for the applicant to respond,” the code section says.
NextEra Duane Arnold is seeking regulatory approval from state and federal officials to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which was shut down after the August 2020 derecho. Officials say they hope to resume energy production operations at the plant by the end of the decade.
In late October, Google announced a 25-year agreement to purchase power from the Duane Arnold nuclear plant to support its cloud and AI infrastructure in Iowa – including the Google data center under construction in southwest Cedar Rapids and another Google data center proposed near Duane Arnold.
