Walmart Signs Nuclear Power Deal With Constellation for Illinois Operations
The retailer's PPA adds to a surge in corporate nuclear procurement that more than twice the 2024 total in 2025, as large buyers seek dispatchable clean baseload.
Walmart struck a long-term power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to supply the retailer with nuclear electricity, environmental attributes and generation capacity for its Illinois operations, the companies disclosed in a June 23 (2026-06-23) press release. The deal includes 30 megawatts of expanded generation capacity tied to a Constellation plant.6
Corporate energy buyers announced the procurement of approximately 5.1 gigawatts of nuclear energy in 2025, more than twice the 2.2 gigawatts procured in 2024, according to a March 2026 report from the Corporate Energy Buyers Association. That pace of buying signals how quickly the corporate nuclear off-take market has moved from novelty to standard procurement practice.6
Walmart's own energy mix provides context. The company said 48.5% of its global electricity needs were supplied by renewable energy in 2024, with 30.6% met through direct renewable energy contracts.6 Nuclear fills a gap intermittent sources cannot: dispatchable, low-carbon baseload that carries capacity value alongside energy, satisfying both the power and environmental needs of a large commercial operator in a single agreement.
Constellation, which operates one of the largest nuclear fleets in the United States, has emerged as a preferred counterparty for corporations seeking clean firmed power. The concentration of Constellation plants in Illinois makes the geography practical for a buyer of Walmart's scale.6
The wider surge in corporate nuclear procurement reflects the collision between decarbonisation targets and the basic physics of large, continuous loads. Data centre growth has pushed grid operators into unplanned capacity situations across the US. Hyperscalers have signed off-take deals directly with nuclear operators at premiums that would have been unusual five years ago, and retail buyers are now following.1
Goldman Sachs has added small modular reactors to its nuclear tracking model, citing broadening buildout momentum.4 But Barclays analysts note that both conventional nuclear and SMR costs "exceed the market price for power."2 That gap defines the implicit pricing structure of these long-term agreements — counterparties pay a premium for reliability and carbon certainty that the spot market cannot consistently deliver. The bet is that the premium compresses as power markets tighten.5
The uranium market has not tracked the corporate procurement enthusiasm. The URA uranium ETF fell 4.45% on Tuesday (2026-07-07) to $42.07, a disconnect from the positive signal that multi-gigawatt PPA volumes would ordinarily generate. Physical uranium supply runs on its own dynamics, and the ETF's equity-heavy construction means sentiment can break from underlying fuel demand. Still, with 5.1 gigawatts of new nuclear corporate procurement signed in 2025, the fuel-cycle implications accumulate.3,6
For Constellation, the Walmart deal extends a run of named-counterparty PPAs providing long-term revenue visibility against a fleet that requires high fixed-cost recovery. The 30 megawatts of expanded generation tied to the Illinois plant adds supply at a time when nuclear units capable of uprating are a finite and increasingly contested resource.6
Barclays' point that nuclear costs currently exceed the market price for power is not an argument against these deals; it defines their structure.2 Constellation's next earnings disclosure should clarify how the company is pricing new off-take and whether the Illinois expansion feeds a broader pipeline of corporate agreements or stands as a one-off.