TerraPower, a nuclear power startup founded by Bill Gates, to make a deal One of the largest data center developers in the US will deploy an advanced nuclear reactor this week. TerraPower and Sabe Data Centers (SDC) are working together on a plan to run existing and future facilities on nuclear power from small reactors.
Tech companies are struggling to determine where to get all the power needed to power energy-hungry AI data centers that are putting pressure on the power grid. They are increasingly turning to nuclear energyWhich also includes next generation reactors that startups like TerraPower are developing.
“The energy sector is changing at an unprecedented pace.”
“The energy sector is changing at an unprecedented pace after decades of doing business together, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries,” Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower, said in a press release.
A memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies establishes a “strategic cooperation” that will initially look into the possibility of new nuclear power plants in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region that would provide power to SDC's data centers.
There is still a long road ahead before this becomes a reality. The technology that TerraPower and similar nuclear power startups are developing has yet to be perfected regulatory barriers And prove that they can be commercially viable.
Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, next-generation reactors are supposed to be smaller and easier to install. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that cause climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates worried about its impact uranium mining And radioactive waste storage Near communities.
“I am confident that nuclear energy can help us solve the climate problem, which is very, very important. There are designs that minimize those problems, in terms of their safety or fuel use or how they handle waste,” Gates. told The Verge last year,
According to the company, TerraPower's reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is the only advanced technology of its kind, with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. company bus broke ground on a demonstration project in Wyoming last year, and is expected to come online in 2030.
Microsoft Reached a deal in September to help restart a retired reactor at Three Mile Island. Both Google And AmazonMeanwhile, last year it announced plans to support the development of advanced reactors to power its data centres.