Ohio Nuclear Plant Shuts Down Without Explanation; Was Part of Power Deal With Meta Earlier This year

An Ohio nuclear power plant that’s part of Meta’s aggressive data center buildout plans has shut down without explanation and would be the latest in a series of sudden shutdowns of U.S. nuclear plants in a little over a month.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported this morning that the plant was now operating at zero power generation, after entering the Labor Day weekend at full power. 

Industry observers say it appears to be an unscheduled shutdown. Company spokesmen have not yet responded to requests for more information.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, Davis-Besse provides 5 percent of Ohio’s electricity. It first began supplying power to the grid in 1977, and is about 20 miles from Toledo. 

Two industry observers, the website Nukeworker.com and GridStatus have also reported the shutdown. Nukeworker reports that it was unscheduled, and GridStatus is calling it a “suspected forced outage.” The plant reported a standard, planned outage earlier this year for refueling—a cycle that typically runs over two years in duration.

A shutdown of Davis-Besse would be the fifth sudden shutdown of a nuclear power plant in the past six weeks, with other events at Millstone-2 in Connecticut, River Bend 1 in Louisiana, St. Lucie 1 in Florida, and the Dresden 2 plant in Illinois all being shut down for various issues.

All have subsequently been brought back online. 

Earlier this year, Vistra reached an agreement to supply Meta with power from Davis-Besse for 20 years—one of several nuclear deals Meta entered into at the time as it continued an aggressive drive to boost power to its hyperscale data centers.

The run of shutdowns comes as tech companies and data center operators seek to tap into greater amounts of nuclear energy throughout the U.S., as competition for AI computing capacity has continued at a fever pitch. Nuclear power supporters tout its availability, capacity, and reliability.

In addition to Meta’s nuclear power roadmap, Google has signed a deal with Xcel Energy to reopen the closed Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa. And Microsoft is working with Constellation Energy to restart the former Three Mile Island nuclear plant, which began decommissioning in 2019.

Three Mile Island was the site of the 1979 accident that led to a sudden release of radiation and caused widespread concern throughout the U.S. about a potential meltdown. Microsoft’s deal is to restart the second reactor at the location; that reactor was not involved in the high-profile accident.