META reaches deals with nuclear power group to help fuel its AI ambitions

Facebook parent Meta has secured long‑term nuclear power deals to make sure its growing AI data centers have a steady, reliable supply of electricity.

Meta’s 20-year agreements with Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo, along with an earlier deal with Constellation Energy, make it one of the largest corporate purchasers of nuclear power in U.S. history, Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, said in a statement included in the company’s Friday announcement.

According to Meta, the deals include signed power purchase agreements with Vistra to buy electricity from three existing nuclear plants: the Perry and Davis‑Besse facilities in Ohio and the Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania.

Meta’s agreements will supply up to 6.6 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2035, roughly the output of several large nuclear plants, according to the company’s blog post. This far exceeds the 1–to 4 gigawatts the company sought from developers in 2024.

Meta and other major technology companies have been increasingly focused on securing long-term power supplies as AI and data centers drive U.S. electricity demand up for the first time in 20 years.

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The new Meta agreement will create thousands of jobs, Meta said.

Communities nationwide are pushing back against AI data centers over rising electricity costs, loss of open space, along with potential impacts from noise, pollution and water shortages. Residents in rural towns and suburban areas are organizing protests, attending packed town halls and launching zoning battles to block or delay these projects, arguing they threaten quality of life and strain local resources.

Once-quiet municipal meetings now overflow with residents demanding action. In East Vincent Township, Pennsylvania, local resident Larry Shank confronted supervisors last month about a planned data center, asking, “Would you want this built in your backyard? Because that’s where it’s literally going, is in my backyard.”

Legal battles have also erupted over zoning and local regulations, and major tech companies, including Meta, Microsoft, Google and Amazon, are facing project delays despite support from state and federal authorities.

Microsoft has acknowledged these challenges, noting in an October securities filing that its operational risks include “community opposition, local moratoriums and hyper-local dissent” that could slow or halt infrastructure development, the Associated Press reported.

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Meta said Friday that the new agreements will help fund expansions at the Ohio facilities and extend the operational life of all three reactors, which are licensed to run through at least 2036, with one of Beaver Valley’s two reactors licensed through 2047.

Beyond purchasing power from existing plants, Meta will also support the development of next-generation small modular reactors with Oklo and TerraPower, the latter backed by Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates.

Shares of Oklo jumped nearly 20 percent while Vistra increased by about 8 percent in premarket trading following the announcement.

The company’s partnership with Oklo will help develop up to 1.2 GW of nuclear power in Ohio as early as 2030, supporting “early procurement and development,” according to Oklo’s co-founder and CEO, Jacob DeWitte.