Massive AI Data Center Planned for Southern Ohio Former Uranium Site

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a public-private partnership to develop a major new artificial intelligence infrastructure project at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County, Ohio. The site is being rebranded as the PORTS Technology Campus and will host a 10-gigawatt data center alongside an equal amount of new power generation capacity, primarily 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas generation, with additional on-site and grid-connected sources. Key federal and international leaders, including Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, attended the announcement. Private sector partners, SoftBank Group and its affiliate SB Energy, are collaborating with AEP Ohio to construct the power generation and transmission systems. This includes a $4.2 billion investment in grid upgrades, with assurances that customer electricity rates will not increase. The project is linked to a broader U.S.-Japan strategic investment initiative and is expected to contribute to the "Stargate" AI infrastructure initiative, which could see up to $500 billion invested nationwide by companies like OpenAI and Oracle. Construction is set to begin later this year, with projections for thousands of new jobs and opportunities in advanced research fields. However, the development faces opposition from some Ohio residents, who recently filed a petition for a statewide constitutional amendment to ban large-scale data centers, citing concerns over environmental and economic impacts related to energy usage and infrastructure demands. Despite these concerns, federal officials suggest the project could benefit the region by feeding excess power back into the grid, potentially lowering electricity costs across southern Ohio.