The mechanism. Nuclear plants sitting next to data centers looked like the cleanest arbitrage in the power sector: sell electricity straight to a hyperscaler behind the meter, skip the congested grid, and charge a premium no utility rate case would ever allow. Then FERC said no. In November 2024, on a 2-1 vote, the Commission rejected an amended interconnection service agreement that would have let Talen Energy expand Amazon's co-located data center load at the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania from 300 MW to 480 MW — finding that PJM Interconnection failed to prove the deal's non-standard terms were justified by any reliability need unique to that site. FERC reaffirmed the rejection on rehearing in March 2026, and Talen is now pursuing an appeal at the Fifth Circuit. Separately, FERC's December 18, 2025 order found PJM's tariff itself unjust and unreasonable for failing to clearly define co-location rules, and directed PJM toward new "front-of-the-meter" transmission-service options — arrangements where colocated load pays standard grid-service costs rather than sidestepping them entirely. Both moves point the same direction: regulators are narrowing the path to the isolated, premium-priced nuclear-to-hyperscaler deal.