Major AI companies plan to meet the growing demand with nuclear energy.
What’s new: Amazon, Google, and Microsoft announced substantial investments in nuclear power projects. Amazon and Google forged partnerships to build a new generation of small reactors, while Microsoft cut a deal to revive a shuttered nuclear plant. (Andrew Ng is a member of Amazon’s board of directors.)
How it works: Nuclear power provides around 18 percent of electricity in the United States and more in France and several other European countries. Its steady generating capacity and zero carbon emissions (after plant construction) make it an attractive way to power AI infrastructure. However, new nuclear plants have been difficult to build in the U.S. since a string of high-profile accidents at Three Mile Island in the U.S. (1979), Chernobyl in Ukraine (1986), and Fukishima in Japan (2011). Since then, pressure to reduce carbon emissions has driven calls to build new plants. In March, President Biden signed legislation that streamlines construction and regulation of nuclear plants.
- Amazon is taking part in a number of nuclear projects. It led a $500 million investment in X-energy, a designer of small modular reactors, an emerging class of lower-cost reactor designs. X-energy’s reactors use advanced fuel that surrounds nuclear particles with carbon and ceramic to resist corrosion, rust, melting, or other dangers of high-temperature reactors. (The International Atomic Energy Agency regards small modular reactors as safer than earlier reactors. The Union of Concerned Scientists expresses doubts.) In addition, Amazon announced a partnership with the utility consortium Energy Northwest to deploy a 320-megawatt X-energy reactor in the state of Washington, which may expand to 960 megawatts. Separately, Amazon agreed with Dominion Energy to build a small modular reactor in Virginia, which would give Amazon’s data centers an additional 300 megawatts.
- Google partnered with Kairos Power to develop small modular reactors. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Kairos expects the new plants to begin operation in 2030, with more planned by 2035, providing up to 500 megawatts of electricity. This summer, Kairos broke ground on a demonstration unit in Tennessee, the first small modular reactor project permitted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is expected to open in 2027.
- In September, Microsoft signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy, which intends to restart Unit 1 of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant (which was not damaged in the 1979 partial meltdown) by 2028.
Behind the news: The tech industry’s growing interest in nuclear power is driven by surging demand for AI and corporate commitments to reduce carbon emissions. Data centers that train and run AI models consume vast amounts of electricity, and nuclear energy offers a reliable, carbon-free source. Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI have urged the White House to deliver a so-called “energy New Deal” that would allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize new power plants.
Why it matters: The fact that tech giants are investing directly in nuclear power plants indicates the high stakes of competition in AI. Economists estimate that data centers that process AI, among other workloads, will consume more than 1,000 terawatt-hours of electricity by 2026, more than double the amount they consumed in 2022. Nuclear power could give them bountiful, carbon-free energy for decades to come.
We’re thinking: Fossil fuels like coal do tremendous damage to the environment, while renewables like solar and wind energy can’t fully meet the always-on demands of AI infrastructure. Next-generation reactor designs that improve safety and reduce costs are worth exploring. However, a significant obstacle remains: Few countries have a certifiably safe repository for long-term disposal of highly radioactive spent fuel. U.S. efforts toward this goal are stalled.