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Google’s AI hunger sparks nuclear power deal

This deal to support the development of small modular reactors echoes moves by Microsoft and Amazon to secure a supply of more “carbon-free” energy. Read More

Architect’s rendering of the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor facility in Oak Ridge. Tennessee. Source: Kairos Power

Google has signed a deal with Kairos Power, a developer of small nuclear reactors, to add 500 megawatts of “carbon-free energy” available around the clock to the U.S. electricity grid starting in 2030.

Kairos is commercializing an advanced nuclear reactor that uses molten salt for cooling. In February, Kairos signed a $303 million contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to build a demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and it broke ground on the project over the summer. The “Hermes” site is the first non-water-cooled reactor to be approved for U.S. construction in more than 50 years. 

The new contract will support the growth of Google’s artificial intelligence services, which already generate billions in revenue for Google’s cloud software division, according to the Mountain View, California, company’s second-quarter earnings report. 

“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,” said Michael Terrell, senior director of energy and climate at Google, in an Oct. 14 blog about the agreement

Google’s emissions are rising

Small modular nuclear reactors can produce up to about 300 megawatts of power, about one-third the capacity of legacy technologies. The power sourced by Google will come from multiple locations that will be switched on between 2030 and 2035, but the companies didn’t say where. Financial details were not disclosed.

Google’s AI unit surpassed $10 billion for the first time in the quarter ended June 30, representing 12 percent of parent company Alphabet’s sales. Google’s emissions rose 13 percent in 2023, largely because of its AI-related data center expansion. Aside from general services, Google aims to use AI to facilitate 1 gigaton of carbon emissions reductions by 2030.

To keep pace with its carbon emissions reduction goals, Google needs to find always-available power that isn’t generated using fossil fuels. Its data centers used 24 terrawatt-hours of power in 2023, 7-10 percent of all electricity used by global data centers.

Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all named sourcing nuclear power as an important component of their strategies to cut emissions associated with their rapidly growing data center powers. In September, Microsoft signed a deal to bring a retired reactor at Three Mile Island back online. Amazon, meanwhile, is paying $650 million to take over a data center campus in Pennsylvania that is directly powered by one of the largest U.S. nuclear plants.

Nuclear power accounts for about 20 percent of the U.S. electricity mix. The Energy Department estimates there will be up to 200 gigawatts of advanced nuclear power online by 2050.

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