Google Goes Very Green
Like all other megatech companies, Google is hungry for electricity to run its massive, growing server farms. It, and other big tech companies have said they will put tens of billions of dollars into these facilities this year. All would like to go with green energy. It has become clear that they will take the electricity, no matter how it is generated.
Google will enter the small modular reactor industry. These reactors are much tinier than those already online, including aging structures like Three Mile Island (although Microsoft plans to restart one of its reactors).
Small Reactors
Semafor states, “Google will fund the development of three US nuclear plants, as progress toward small modular reactors gathers pace. Elementl Power, a nuclear startup that will identify the sites, said each will eventually produce 600 megawatts of low-carbon electricity — enough to power around 600,000 homes.”
Small modular reactors, defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency, are seen as part of the wave of the green future, particularly because wind and solar energy cannot keep pace with data center hunger. “Small modular reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.” The technology has not been tested. Regulatory approval time is also an unknown. What is known is that the AI industry needs them badly.
Demand Beyond Imagination
Semfor states, “One small reactor is already operating in Russia, and China expects to build its first by 2026.” What happens in these two nations is often shrouded.
AI may be growing as fast as AI developers say. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says that 99% of US energy consultation will be for AI server farms. That is unimaginable.
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