DOE plans a major data center at Ohio ex-uranium facility

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a public-private partnership on Friday to construct a major 10-gigawatt data center with an integrated power supply at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Pike County, Ohio. The site, now rebranded as the "PORTS Technology Campus," is slated to include up to 10 gigawatts of new power generation, with 9.2 gigawatts from natural gas. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited Piketon for the announcement. SoftBank Group and its affiliate SB Energy are partnering with AEP Ohio to develop the power generation and transmission infrastructure, including a $4.2 billion investment in grid upgrades. The DOE stated this project is part of the U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement and includes $33.3 billion in Japanese funding for the natural gas component. Secretary Wright emphasized the project's role in adding power generation, creating jobs, and ensuring U.S. leadership in AI. The Portsmouth project is linked to SoftBank's "Stargate" artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative with OpenAI and Oracle, which aims to build large-scale U.S. data center capacity, potentially involving $500 billion in investment. Construction is expected to begin this year, creating thousands of jobs. However, the announcement comes shortly after rural Ohio residents filed a petition to place a constitutional ban on mega data centers on the statewide ballot, citing environmental, financial, and societal concerns. Ohio currently ranks fifth nationally for data centers, with approximately 200 sites.