Meta bets big on nuclear power with 6.6 gigawatt expansion plan

Facebook's parent company signs deals with three companies to extend the life of existing nuclear plants and develop new reactor technologies.

Meta has signed 20-year contracts with energy company Vistra to purchase power from three nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The company will also provide financial backing for the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) at Oklo and TerraPower.

The projects are expected to deliver up to 6.6 gigawatts of capacity by 2035 - roughly equivalent to six or seven conventional nuclear plants. Joel Kaplan, Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer, says this makes the company, combined with a 2025 agreement with Constellation Energy, one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history.

The announcement underscores just how hungry tech companies have become for power: AI applications and data centers are pushing U.S. electricity demand higher for the first time in two decades, according to Reuters.

Vistra deal keeps existing plants running longer

Most of the planned capacity comes from plants already in operation. Meta will purchase more than 2.1 gigawatts from Vistra's Perry and Davis-Besse facilities in Ohio. All three sites, including Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania, will also receive upgrades. These so-called uprates should add 433 megawatts of additional capacity and come online in the early 2030s.

Meta calls this the largest corporate-backed nuclear plant expansion in the United States. The agreement will also extend the operating life of these facilities, which are currently licensed through at least 2036.

New reactor technologies could deliver power by 2030

The plans for next-generation reactors are more ambitious - and less certain. Meta has signed a development agreement with TerraPower, a company backed by Bill Gates, for two Natrium reactors. These could deliver up to 690 megawatts, potentially as early as 2032. Meta has also secured rights to up to six additional units totaling 2.1 gigawatts by 2035.

In total, the TerraPower partnership could include eight reactors with 2.8 gigawatts of baseload capacity plus 1.2 gigawatts of integrated storage. Meta describes this as its largest commitment to advanced nuclear technology to date.

The Oklo partnership focuses on a new nuclear energy campus in Pike County, Ohio. Up to 1.2 gigawatts of clean energy could come from the site, potentially starting as early as 2030.

Small modular reactors remain unproven technology

Market enthusiasm aside, Small Modular Reactors are still largely theoretical. No commercially operating SMRs exist in the United States yet, and both projects still need regulatory approval.

Supporters argue that SMRs can be built in factories rather than on-site, which should cut costs. Critics, however, doubt that smaller plants will ever match the economies of scale that large reactors achieve.

Thousands of jobs expected from nuclear buildout

Meta highlights the economic impact of these projects: thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of long-term operations positions. The company also points to new tax revenue for local and state governments.

Meta already operates the Prometheus supercluster in New Albany, Ohio. The nuclear plants will feed power into the PJM grid, which also serves Meta's data centers. The company emphasizes that it will cover the full cost of its data centers' energy needs.

Last year, Meta signed an agreement with Constellation Energy to keep an Illinois nuclear plant running for another 20 years.