House passes measure to bolster nuclear, retain coal for AI data centers on utility customer dime

The Indiana House passed a bill on Thursday that aims to help ensure AI data centers coming into the state have the massive amount of power they need — primarily by subsidizing small nuclear plants and keeping coal plants online.

House Bill 1007 would allow an Indiana utility to pass along some of the cost of developing a small modular nuclear reactor to its customers — even if the plant never gets finished.

So far, none of the ones in the U.S. have. One federally-funded project was canceled in 2023 after more than a decade of work and nearly $9 billion in costs.

READ MORE: AI data centers threaten to derail climate progress in Indiana

Another part of the bill requires utilities that want to close a coal or natural gas plant — or repower it with a different source of energy — to replace it with the same amount of energy capacity or more. That could put renewable energy like wind and solar at a disadvantage.
 

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If Indiana orders a utility to keep a plant open, the utility could get approval to charge ratepayers to continue running the plant as long as those costs are “just and reasonable.”

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.