October 15, 2024 – 08:23
Google ordered the construction of six small nuclear reactors from the American energy company Kairos Power – Writes the Financial Times. Google aims to provide low-carbon electricity to energy-intensive data centers.
Google and Kairos announced the order on Monday, which is for small power plants with a total capacity of 500 megawatts. Kairos is a startup that has been operating for only seven years and which, in response to Google's request, will manufacture its first commercial nuclear reactor by 2030, and the other reactors included in the order by 2035.
When announcing the agreement, Google stressed that its data centers need energy around the clock, which it will replace with power generation plants with the lowest possible emissions. According to them, nuclear power plants are suitable for this purpose. It has not yet been decided whether the reactors will be connected to the national electricity grid or directly connected to data centers.
Google According to what he posted on his blog about this topic He calculates that as their AI services advance, they will need much more power than they do now.
Last month, Microsoft announced it would buy enough energy for 20 years from the decommissioned Three Mile Island nuclear power plant if its owner restarts it. In recent years, technology companies have shown increasing interest in nuclear energy, as they have become increasingly confident in its ability to meet their huge energy needs with minimal emissions.
California-based Kairos has developed a reactor that is cooled with molten fluoride salt instead of water. It received permission from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build its first 50-megawatt reactor in December. This was the first new type of reactor approved in the past half century.
