Google and Kairos Power have selected Tennessee in the United States as the location for a nuclear power plant that will supply electricity to the company’s data centers starting in 2030, the companies revealed on Monday.
Currently, there are no advanced nuclear power plants available for commercial use in the United States.
Big tech companies require substantial amounts of electricity to expand their artificial intelligence data processing capabilities.
US electricity consumption is reaching new highs due to increasing energy demands, prompting the exploration of innovative energy sources like advanced nuclear power.
Google’s intentions
The Tennessee reactor is the initial one to be installed under Google’s plan, declared last year, to purchase nuclear power from multiple small modular reactors.
The scheme aims to back 500 megawatts of cutting-edge nuclear power generation, sufficient to provide electricity for approximately 350,000 households, to be constructed by the California-based nuclear firm Kairos.
A 50 gigawatt small modular nuclear power plant will be constructed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, through a long-term energy agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority utility company. It will supply power to Google data centers in the local area and Alabama.
The project represents the initial instance in which a U.S. utility company has entered into an agreement for energy procurement related to nuclear power generation IV, widely regarded as the most environmentally friendly and secure approach to advancing nuclear energy technologies, the companies announced.
Deploying advanced nuclear reactors is crucial for artificial intelligence and maintaining US energy dominance, according to the US Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright.
