Brookfield and NextEra Energy plan a $100B+ AI data center campus on a former Kentucky uranium enrichment site, with 2 GW of gas generation and 2.6 GW of battery storage.
A consortium led by Brookfield Corp. and NextEra Energy plans to invest more than $100 billion to build one of the country's largest AI data center campuses on a former federal uranium enrichment site in Paducah, Kentucky.
The project calls for a 1.8-gigawatt AI and high-performance computing innovation campus on up to 1,100 acres of the more than 3,500-acre site, according to the U.S. Energy Department, which announced the plan July 30. Federal uranium enrichment began there in 1950 for defense purposes, transitioned to private operation for commercial power plants in the 1960s, and stopped in 2013.
NextEra will develop 2 GW of new grid-connected natural gas-fired generation on roughly 200 acres, upgrade existing transmission infrastructure, and deploy up to 2.6 GW of battery energy storage on a leased site of about 300 acres. Excess energy is to be delivered to the regional grid by local utility partners. The power service agreement requires approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2031, the DOE said. The agency announced no direct federal funding or incentives. No contractors have been named by DOE, Brookfield or NextEra.
The project is part of a federal push to encourage private development of manufacturing, technology and energy projects on federally owned sites with existing water, road and power infrastructure. Earlier this year, DOE announced a similar public-private partnership with SoftBank and AEP Ohio to build 10 GW of new generation capacity at the former Portsmouth, Ohio, uranium enrichment site.
Other initiatives are underway at the Paducah site. General Matter earlier this year announced plans to invest $1.5 billion in a new uranium enrichment facility there to produce fuel for commercial and next-generation nuclear reactors. In 2025, Global Laser Enrichment proposed a $1.76-billion project using advanced laser technology to convert more than 200,000 metric tons of depleted uranium into commercial nuclear fuel.
DOE-managed cleanup and environmental remediation at the site are set to continue until 2065.
NextEra Energy carries an Alpha Score of 51 out of 100, labeled Mixed, on the NEE stock page. AEP carries an Alpha Score of 45, also labeled Mixed, on the AEP stock page.
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