News: 0184753836

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NextEra, Brookfield to Build $100 Billion Kentucky Data Campus (bloomberg.com)

(Wednesday July 29, 2026 @05:00PM (BeauHD) from the powering-the-future dept.)


NextEra and Brookfield plan to invest more than $100 billion to transform a former uranium-enrichment site in Kentucky [1]into a data center campus with a generating plant . "The privately funded effort will include construction of 2 gigawatts of natural gas-fired power at or near the site in Paducah in western Kentucky, and as much as 2.6 gigawatts of battery storage capacity," reports Bloomberg. " For context, a single gigawatt of capacity is roughly the output of a traditional nuclear power plant and can power about 750,000 homes at any given moment." From the report:

> Brookfield will develop and operate the 1.8 GW data center campus, which will occupy portions of the sprawling 3,556-acre Energy Department site once used to produce weapons-grade uranium and fuel for nuclear reactors. Operations using the now obsolete enrichment technology known as gaseous diffusion stopped in 2013 and the site is now subject to cleanup efforts. Construction is expected to be completed in 2031, the Energy Department said.

"The U.S. government is leveraging its assets -- like our federal lands -- to add power generation, create jobs, and ensure the United States wins the AI race," Energy Secretary Chris Wright [2]said in a statement . The project is expected to create 8,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent positions, the department said.



[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-29/nextera-brookfield-to-build-100-billion-kentucky-data-campus

[2] https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-partnership-expand-reliable-affordable-energy-access-and-power



What is there is no race (Score:2)

by caseih ( 160668 )

Always the talk of a race. And the whole world are the enemies. Seems like the US is treating everything like a zero sum game where winning at all costs is necessary. Is this a cold war relic? Will this actually benefit American citizens?

Re: (Score:1)

by lxnt ( 98232 )

I'm also curious. Who are they racing with?

Re: (Score:3)

by Fly Swatter ( 30498 )

AI data centers are racing to build and use your electricity and natural gas thereby increasing costs to all citizens. The race is with citizens and their tolerance of highly inflated living costs on electricity and natural gas used to heat homes in the winter.

Re: (Score:2)

by ObliviousGnat ( 6346278 )

Use the waste heat from the data center to heat homes in the winter.

Re: What is there is no race (Score:2)

by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

Even dual-purposing the energy like that will still be less efficient than a heat pump

Re: What is there is no race (Score:2)

by liqu1d ( 4349325 )

Bankruptcy?

Maintaining parity as a deterrence to attack. (Score:2)

by drnb ( 2434720 )

> Always the talk of a race. And the whole world are the enemies.

Just regimes like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. And one of them is a credible AI researcher, one who would likely weaponize AI. Seems like the US is treating everything like a zero sum game where winning at all costs is necessary.

Nope. Its maintaining parity as a deterrence to attack.

Something to look forward to ... (Score:3)

by Anne Thwacks ( 531696 )

"Include construction of 2 gigawatts of natural gas-fired power"

At last ... Kentucky Fried Data!

Federal lands (Score:2)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

All the hunters and fisherman who voted for this are going to blame Hillary/Obama/Binden.

Re: (Score:1)

by Black Parrot ( 19622 )

> All the hunters and fisherman who voted for this are going to blame Hillary/Obama/Binden.

And B.Clinton, Carter, Johnson, J.F.Kennedy, Truman, Roosevelt...

2.6 gigawatts of battery storage capacity (Score:2)

by rossdee ( 243626 )

You don't measure battery storage capacity in watts.

You measure it in watt hours.

So they're calling them campuses now? (Score:3)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

That's kind of clever, change the name so people who have already figured out the data centers are bad news now thinks of them as something else. Muddy the conversation long enough for you to ram it through after some bribes to do local politicians.

The data center build out really is letting people know, especially people in rural communities, just how much of their own autonomy they have given up over the last... When was Ronald Reagan elected?

Fortune finishes the great quotations, #6

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?"
It's nothing, honey. Go back to sleep.