The US Turns On Nuclear Reactors to Power AI

Both governmental agencies and private tech giants are working together to restart nuclear plants all across America, tapping into the powerful and misunderstood energy source for the first time in decades.

Why It Sparks: The explosive growth of the AI industry requires a lot of energy to power the technology, so firms are rushing to find sustainable sources that reliably have the juice.

Between the Power Lines: To ensure that the energy grid doesn’t get totally zapped by AI, the US government, Big Tech, and several startups are dusting off the ol’ nuclear-energy playbook.

• The Energy Department secured a $1.5 billion loan to turn on the Holtec Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, making it the first ever to be restarted in the US.
• Last week, Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced that they’re spending $1.6 billion to turn on the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania by 2028.
• The Bill Gates-backed TerraPower is building a sodium-cooled “fast” reactor in Wyoming, X-energy is developing a small reactor in Texas, and the Sam Altman-backed Oklo is scouting for reactor sites in Idaho.

The Future: Nuclear power has only accounted for about 20% of America’s energy output since the 1970s. But supercharging nuclear, which has bipartisan support, is now seen as the only way to keep the AI industry’s lights on — the Energy Department projects that new data centers will require an additional 25 gigawatts of energy by 2030. OpenAI even pitched the White House on building several 5-gigawatt data centers, each requiring the output of five nuclear plants. Whoa.

With the Energy Department saying that building data centers near nuclear plants is an “ideal solution,” prepare for the agency to become the Oprah of electricity: “You get a plant! You get a plant! You get a plant!”

Dig Deeper: With a resurgence in nuclear power comes a demand for uranium… and several stakeholders are already heading West to start digging for the proverbial gold.