Key Takeaways:
A former Cold War uranium enrichment plant in Kentucky will become a $100 billion AI data center campus backed by 4.6 gigawatts of dedicated power generation.
Brookfield Asset Management and NextEra Energy plan to transform a shuttered Cold War uranium enrichment site in western Kentucky into a $100 billion AI data center campus, backed by 4.6 gigawatts of dedicated power generation.
"The Department of Energy Paducah Site will be the seed of our plan to invest $100 billion in AI infrastructure," Brookfield Chief Executive Bruce Flatt said in a statement.
The campus on the Energy Department's 3,556-acre Paducah site will support as much as 1.8 gigawatts of utility capacity and more than 1.2 gigawatts of compute capacity when fully built by 2032. NextEra Energy will build and own the generation assets — 2 gigawatts of natural gas-fired capacity paired with as much as 2.6 gigawatts of battery storage — while Brookfield will develop and operate the data center. One gigawatt can power roughly 750,000 homes at any given moment.
The project shows the Trump administration's push to address surging electricity demand from AI data centers without passing costs to residential customers. Failure to add capacity threatens the administration's priority of winning the AI race against China and risks worsening electricity price spikes ahead of the November midterm elections.
The privately funded development will create about 8,000 construction jobs and 600 full-time operations positions, the companies said. The partnership also includes nonprofit utilities Big Rivers Electric Power Corp., Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative and Paducah Power System, which will provide wholesale and retail electric service.
The Paducah site, originally built in 1952 to enrich uranium for Cold War weapons and later nuclear reactor fuel, stopped operations in 2013 when its gaseous diffusion technology became obsolete. The site is now subject to cleanup efforts but retains transmission capacity, water infrastructure, fiber connectivity and road access from its previous operations — factors the companies said will accelerate the development timeline.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright called the project a "crucial road map for future projects in the United States" that shows the ability to build world-leading infrastructure without passing costs to surrounding communities. The project fulfills the Trump administration's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, meaning the data center's power infrastructure costs will not be passed on to existing residential or small-business electricity customers. The power service arrangement requires additional oversight and approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
The project is the second major data center development on a former Energy Department enrichment site. SoftBank Group Corp. said earlier this year that a data center campus it is developing on another former DOE enrichment site in Ohio could be as large as $500 billion. The department selected Brookfield to lease and develop the Paducah site following a Request for Offers issued in November 2025, and separately selected NextEra Energy to build the dedicated generation resources.
NextEra Energy Chairman and Chief Executive John Ketchum said the data center "will bring its own power, pay for its own power infrastructure and create good-paying jobs for local workers." The project remains subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive documentation.
The deal channels massive institutional capital into AI infrastructure, benefiting companies across the supply chain. NextEra Energy (NEE), the largest U.S. power utility, gains a long-term contracted revenue stream from the dedicated generation assets. Brookfield (BN), which manages more than $1 trillion in assets, adds a premier AI infrastructure asset to its portfolio. The $100 billion investment also supports demand for AI hardware from Nvidia and other chipmakers, as well as data center equipment providers.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
