Google Signs 20-Year Constellation Deal to Add 890 MW at 11 Nuclear Reactors

Google and Constellation Energy announced a 20-year power purchase agreement on October 6, 2026. The agreement is to fund upgrades at 11 of Constellation's nuclear reactors in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In the announcement, the companies said the work would add 890 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity to the PJM Interconnection grid. They said the first upgrade is expected by 2028. They also entered a separate 15-year agreement covering 2,700 MW of supply from Constellation in PJM.

The deal involves no new reactor. The added output would come from uprates, which are upgrades that raise the power output of an existing reactor. One gigawatt (GW) is 1,000 MW. The site's AI data center megaprojects tracker lists the deal with other long-term power agreements signed by data center operators.

What did Google and Constellation agree to?

The announcement describes several linked agreements:

• A 20-year power purchase agreement, a long-term contract to buy electricity. Constellation says it will invest more than $4.3 billion in new equipment at 11 reactors on six plant sites. It says that will raise their combined output by 890 MW.
• A 15-year supply agreement for 2,700 MW. The release says it gives Constellation's operating plants revenue certainty so that they keep supplying the PJM market. Reuters reported that Google said this power is not tied to a specific generation source. Reuters put the total at 3,590 MW, with new nuclear capacity about a quarter of it.
• Flexible demand. The agreement includes demand-response provisions to cut non-critical power consumption when the grid is under stress.
• A five-year technology agreement. Constellation will use Google Cloud and Gemini Enterprise AI tools. The companies say the tools will shorten engineering and regulatory work on uprates.

They also agreed on a framework for evaluating new clean generation, storage and demand response projects. The companies say the agreement will create about 7,200 construction jobs and help sustain roughly 4,400 existing ones. In its own post, Google says other grid customers will bear none of the uprate costs.

Which nuclear plants are involved?

The announcement does not name them. A Constellation spokesman spoke to Nuclear News, a publication of the American Nuclear Society. He said the plants include:

• Braidwood, Byron, LaSalle and Quad Cities in Illinois
• Limerick in Pennsylvania
• PSEG Nuclear's Salem plant in New Jersey

The publication noted that Constellation owns 43% of Salem and said the specific reactors had not been announced.

The joint release expects the first uprate by 2028. Google's post says the full 890 MW will arrive before the end of 2032.

What is a nuclear uprate, and who must approve it?

When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses a reactor, it sets a limit on the reactor's maximum power level. The agency's backgrounder on uprates says a plant needs NRC permission to raise that limit. It says the plant requests this as an amendment to its operating license. The public has 30 days to comment on an application and 60 days to request a hearing.

The NRC describes three types. The smallest, under 2%, come from measuring reactor power more precisely. Stretch uprates are typically 2% to 7%. Extended uprates have been approved for increases as high as 20%. They usually require significant modifications to major equipment such as turbines, generators and transformers. The companies describe the work as modernizing turbines, steam generators and digital control systems.

The NRC keeps a list of expected uprate applications, last reviewed or updated on September 8, 2026. It has 12 entries naming Constellation Energy Generation as applicant. Their filings are planned from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the fourth quarter of 2030. The plant names are marked proprietary. The list does not tie any entry to the Google agreement. The announcement does not say how many of the 11 projects still need NRC approval. Until the work is approved where required and finished, the 890 MW is planned capacity, not power on the grid.

Why is the deal tied to PJM's proposed data center rules?

PJM operates the grid in 13 states and the District of Columbia, serving 67 million people. The site's earlier article covers what the evidence says about data centers and electric bills. In a proposal filed on August 13, 2026, PJM cited 32 GW of forecast demand growth between 2024 and 2030. It attributed 30 GW of that to data centers.

That proposal was filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Under it, new large customers that do not bring their own new power supply would have to reduce their demand in a grid emergency. That would come before any step that would shut off households and other traditional customers.

PJM's capacity auctions procure supply for future years. Its board framework for the plan says they cleared short of its reliability requirement for 2027/2028 and 2028/2029. The framework defines a large load as 50 MW or more at a single site. It counts uprates among the new capacity a customer can bring, which it calls "Bring Your Own New Capacity."

Google and Constellation call their agreement a direct response to PJM's "Bring Your Own Power" proposal. Reuters described that as a plan to make data center customers supply their own power or risk being cut off from the grid when demand peaks.

The companies also say the deal is in line with the White House's Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Under the pledge, companies commit to "build, bring, or buy" the new generation their data centers need and to pay its full cost.

Both companies have also contested parts of PJM's plan. PJM's September 23 reply in the FERC docket lists protests that each filed on September 3. By PJM's account, Google agreed that new large loads without enough new capacity should be curtailed before other customers. But PJM says Google objected to leaving those loads out of the demand PJM plans for in its capacity auctions. Constellation, by PJM's account, objected to the order in which PJM would call for the cuts.

The companies also tie the deal to the Department of Energy's UPRISE initiative. The department described it in March 2026. The initiative aims to add 5 GW of nuclear capacity by 2029 through uprates, restarts and related steps.

How does it compare with other nuclear deals for data centers?

It is Constellation's second such deal in a week. On September 30, 2026, Constellation and Amazon announced a 20-year agreement covering 690 MW. They said it includes a 190 MW uprate at the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland, expected between 2030 and 2032. Constellation and Amazon also said it would enable more than $3 billion of investment. Utility Dive put the nuclear expansions supported by the two deals at almost 1.1 GW.

Google says the Constellation agreement brings the new nuclear capacity it has enabled in the United States through uprates and restarts to more than 1.5 GW.

What is still unknown, and what comes next?

• Which reactors, and when. Neither the release nor Google's post names the 11 units or gives a schedule for each.
• Price. Neither the release nor Google's post gives contract prices.
• How much is new. The companies describe only the 890 MW as new capacity. By their account, the 2,700 MW agreement supports plants that already operate.
• PJM's proposal. PJM asked FERC to accept its large-load proposal effective October 12, 2026, 60 days after the August 13 filing.