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Seven nuclear reactors to power Google’s AI ambitions

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Four nuclear power plants.
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Google announced on Tuesday that it has signed a deal with nuclear energy startup Kairos Power to purchase 500 megawatts of “new 24/7 carbon-free power” from seven of the company’s small modular reactors (SMRs).  The companies are reportedly looking at an initial delivery from the first SMR in 2030 and a full rollout by 2035.

“The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth,” Michael Terrell, Google’s senior director of Energy and Climate, wrote in a Google Blog on Tuesday. “This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.”

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Terrell argues that the adoption of nuclear power will complement the company’s existing solar power and wind power investments and help it achieve its net-zero energy goals. He also touts nuclear energy as a source of high-paying, long-term jobs, citing a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimate that building out to 200 gigawatts of capacity by 2050 will require an additional 375,000 workers.

Google's first advanced nuclear clean energy deal

Google is far from the only major tech company eyeing nuclear energy as the answer to its AI power problems. Amazon Web Services purchased a 960-megawatt data center campus from Houston-based Talen Energy in March for a sum of $650 million. In September, Microsoft announced that it is working to restart Unit 1 at New York’s Three Mile Island in an effort to power its AI data centers.

That same month, Oracle announced that it is designing a 1-gigawatt data center that will be powered by a trio of small nuclear reactors. “The location and the power place we’ve located, they’ve already got building permits for three nuclear reactors,” Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said during a quarterly investors call. “These are the small modular nuclear reactors to power the data center. This is how crazy it’s getting. This is what’s going on.”

Kairos is also facing increasing competition from other small modular reactor manufacturers. Westinghouse, for example, is currently testing a micro reactor that can run 24/7 for five years without needing to be refueled. Given the astronomical energy (and cooling) requirements of today’s frontier AI models, these advancements can’t come soon enough.

Andrew Tarantola
Andrew Tarantola
Former Computing Writer
Andrew Tarantola is a journalist with more than a decade reporting on emerging technologies ranging from robotics and machine…
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