The U.S. Department of Energy intends to provide a $4.2 billion loan to Vistra for nuclear uprates of 433 MW while preserving 4 GW of existing capacity to meet data center power demand.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday a conditional loan commitment of $4.2 billion to Vistra Corp. to finance nuclear uprates and modernization across the company's nuclear fleet in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Vistra is pursuing a total of 433 MW of uprates at its Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants in Ohio and its Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania. The loan would cover this new capacity while preserving around 4 GW of existing nuclear generation to help meet growing electricity demand in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and across the PJM Interconnection region.

The planned investments were announced in January 2026 in connection with a 2.6 GW power purchase agreement between Vistra and Meta. Under that deal, Vistra will supply Meta with the full 1,268 MW of capacity from Perry and the full 908 MW from Davis-Besse. Meta will also receive 213 MW of uprate energy and capacity from Perry, 80 MW from Davis-Besse, and 140 MW from Beaver Valley.

According to the DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing, "Vistra's planned investments at Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania and Davis-Besse and Perry in Ohio will produce more electricity from existing nuclear plants without requiring new transmission corridors or equivalent new generation resources, while supporting the plants' operation for an additional 20 years beyond their existing licenses."

The financing package also includes an option for DOE to finance future uprates at Vistra's Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Texas. Vistra must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.