AI To Go Nuclear? Data Center Deals Say It's Inevitable

To build the massive datacenters generative AI requires, major companies like Amazon and Microsoft 'are going nuclear,' reports CIO magazine.

AWS:
Earlier this year, AWS paid $650 million to purchase Talen Energy's Cumulus Data Assets, a 960-megawatt nuclear-powered data center on site at Talen's Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, nuclear plant, with additional data centers planned — pending approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency... In addition to its purchase of the Cumulus data center, AWS will have access to nuclear energy as part of a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) from the Susquehanna site.

Microsoft:
Last year, Constellation signed a deal giving Microsoft the rights to receive up to 35% of its power from nuclear sources in addition to its existing solar and wind purchases from Constellation for Microsoft's Boydton, Va., data center. Microsoft has also signed a nuclear carbon credits deal with Ontario Power Generation for its operations in Canada.

The broader industry:

Many of the deals under discussion are with existing nuclear power providers for hyperscalars [large-scale datacenters] to access energy or to employ small module nuclear reactors (SMRs) with smaller carbon footprints that will be annexed to existing nuclear power plants. Nucor, Oklo, Rolls-Royce SMR, Westinghouse Electric, Moltex Energy, Terrestrial Energy, General Electric, Hitachi Nuclear Energy, and X-energy are among the roster of companies with SMRs under development to meet the growing needs of AI data centers...

One energy analyst does not expect nuclear SMRs to be operational until 2030, yet he and many others acknowledge the need for sustainable, carbon-free alternatives to electricity, wind, and solar is very pressing. 'Today's electric grids are struggling to keep up with demand, even as datacenter companies are planning huge new additions to their fleets to power generative AI applications. As a result, companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are increasingly taking matters into their own hands and getting creative. They are now looking at on-site nuclear-based SMRs, and even fusion reactors,' says Peter Kelly-Detwiler, principal of Northbridge Energy Partners. 'This global arms race for power arose pretty quickly, and it's like nothing we have ever seen before.'
Thanks to Slashdot reader snydeq for sharing the news.

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