Big tech firms turn to nuclear energy to run power-intensive AI data centres
Nuclear energy is seen as a cleaner and carbon-free alternative to fossil fuels, with small nuclear reactors providing safe and round-the-clock power.
by Ira Spitzer · CNA · JoinSAN FRANCISCO: Silicon Valley is putting big money into nuclear energy projects to power ambitious plans surrounding artificial intelligence, pitching the sustainable power source as crucial to its green transition.
Some of the technology world’s biggest players, like Facebook’s parent company Meta, are eyeing such cleaner energy options to run their power-intensive data centres.
Many have their sights set on small modular reactors (SMRs), which are advanced nuclear reactors with a power capacity of about a third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.
They are a fraction of the size of conventional nuclear reactors and can be assembled at a factory and transported elsewhere for installation.
Some experts said these SMRs are also up to 8 per cent more efficient than traditional reactors.
“That efficiency gain … is exactly what the world needs to meet sustainability goals and also realise a net zero trajectory,” said David Brown, director of the Energy Transition Practice at global analytics provider Wood Mackenzie.
“That's an important shift for the sector that we believe features very prominently in discussions with governments and potential offtakers.”
A CARBON-FREE ALTERNATIVE
Power demand from data centres, fuelled by AI computing, is set to make up about 8 per cent of global power demand by 2050, according to experts.
That will make phasing out fossil fuel power plants even tougher, especially given that data centres require constant stable power.
Many believe nuclear energy can help bridge that gap as it is a cleaner, carbon-free alternative.
For example, tech giant Google inked an agreement with Kairos Power last year to build SMRs. In what it called a “world’s first” deal, Google ordered six or seven SMRs from the nuclear power startup, with the first set to be completed by 2030 and the remaining by 2035.
The search engine and cloud computing powerhouse, which is owned by Alphabet, said nuclear provides “a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands”.
Microsoft and Amazon have also recently made similar investments.
In September, Microsoft signed a deal to resurrect a unit of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. This was the site of the most serious reactor meltdown in the United States’ history.
In March, Amazon bought a data centre - also in Pennsylvania - that is powered by nuclear energy.
Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that plans by Meta to build an AI centre that runs on nuclear power were thwarted partly due to a rare species of bee on the land where the project was planned.
HESITANCY PERSISTS
However, some are still hesitant about nuclear power technology despite advances in the field.
Accidents like the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011, and a partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear plant in 1979 have damaged public trust.
Microsoft’s deal to restart one of the Three Mile Island reactors, which was not impacted by the meltdown, signalled new interest in nuclear energy.
On the other hand, it also renewed long-held concerns around nuclear waste.
“There's no way - whether it's an advanced reactor or a small modular reactor, or a water-cooled or a sodium-cooled reactor - that you can avoid making long-lasting, deadly nuclear waste with every kilowatt hour of electricity that's generated,” said Diane D'Arrigo, radioactive waste project director at non-profit organisation Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Despite those concerns, nuclear energy, which provides about 20 per cent of US power, has bipartisan support now.
It forms a big part of President Joe Biden’s administration's plans to lower carbon dioxide emissions, while president-elect Donald Trump recently spoke in favour of SMRs like the ones Google has commissioned.
Many challenges remain, such as managing environmental concerns – but for now, there is hope that nuclear power can play a leading role in an AI future that is carbon-free.
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