Google Data Centers Are Returning Nuclear Power to Tornado Country

A destructive storm in 2020 prematurely shut down Iowa’s only nuclear plant. With Google’s plans to reopen it to power nearby data centers, will extreme weather threaten the reactor’s safety?

This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

When a derecho slammed into the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in 2020, Diana Lokenvitz had time for exactly one glance out her window.

A wall of clouds had poured in from the west, swallowing Palo, Iowa, in darkness. “It was like it was pitch black night,” the senior systems engineer at the plant recalled.

Then, the alarm began to sound.

Within seconds of the storm hitting the plant, 130-mile-per-hour winds had severed all six of its external power lines, triggering an automatic emergency shutdown.

Backup diesel generators roared to life, and large control rods slid into the reactor core to halt ...