Last week, Holtec International indefinitely delayed its initial public offering, which would have turned it into a publicly-traded company.
In a statement, Holtec cited unfavorable market conditions, including uncertainty over data centers.
"We attribute the ongoing retreat of the nuclear energy sector to a perfect storm of adverse developments, driven primarily by uncertainty over data center development," the statement read.
The company said those conditions have "compounded a set of pre-existing headwinds, including rising energy costs, elevated global trade tensions, ongoing military conflicts, and mounting inflation fears that have driven the central banks of major economies (EU, Japan and US) to raise their benchmark rates."
Holtec has said it would like to use an emerging technology, 300-megawatt small modular reactors, to help directly and indirectly power data centers.
The company plans to build and operate its first two SMRs at Palisades after the plant has restarted with its existing reactor.
The power from the main reactor has been promised to two utility co-ops, but this does not include electricity from the planned SMRs.
In an email to WMUK, Holtec spokesperson Patrick O’Brien said the company is still deciding where power generated by the SMRs would go.
"We are evaluating options for off take for the Pioneer 1 & 2 [SMRs] project and can not comment on potential off take," O'Brien wrote.
When asked whether Holtec has ruled out selling this power directly to data centers, O'Brien replied that the company "will not comment."
