Big Tech's latest investment in nuclear energy to power its massive data centers
In the latest of a flurry of similar moves by a Silicon Valley trio, Amazon said it plans to invest $500M toward nuclear power "to meet the rising energy demands of its data centers and artificial intelligence initiatives." The announcement comes on the heels of plans slated by both Google and Microsoft to utilize nuclear power (Microsoft's will controversially use the infamous Three-Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania). But there's a catch that the tech companies are touting as safer: small modular nuclear reactors.
Nuclear power accounts for 19% of US electricity generation. AI applications and data centers are expected to account for roughly 9% of total US power consumption by 2030.
Amazon and Google are investing in small modular reactors, which are cheaper and easier to build than traditional nuclear reactors and generate up to 300 megawatts of power or about one-third the amount of power of a traditional reactor. Only two SMRs currently operate in the world, in China and Russia.