ALBAWABA - In a crucial step toward meeting the growing energy requirements of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, Google has announced its first venture into nuclear power by striking an agreement to acquire electricity from Kairos Power, a startup company that is focused on developing small modular reactors (SMRs) with support from the government.
With a proposal to provide 500 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power to grids in the United States by the year 2035, the first stationary nuclear reactor (SMR) from Kairos Power is anticipated to be operational by the year 2030.
There was no disclosure made by the company regarding the financial details of the agreement.
The increasing power demand for data centers of Google, which have become essential for the company's burgeoning energy-hungry artificial intelligence capabilities, could have their requirements addressed as a result of the agreement, according to CNBC.
The agreement is organized as an “order book” of reactors, as stated by Michael Terrell, Google's Senior Director for Energy and Climate. The purpose of this deal is to cut prices and speed up the process of commercializing nuclear energy technology.
“We believe that nuclear energy has a critical role to play in supporting our clean growth and helping to deliver on the progress of AI,” Terrell said. He emphasized the need for clean and dependable energy sources to power the system around-the-clock, making nuclear a key component of Google's long-term energy plan.
Google's move is part of a larger trend in the technology sector, as businesses like Amazon and Microsoft are now using nuclear energy to power their AI-focused data centers.
A 20-year contract for 835 MW of electricity from Constellation Energy's proposed reactor restart at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania was recently signed by Microsoft, while Amazon has an arrangement to use energy from another nuclear plant to power its AWS data center premises, according to Axios.
While concerns about the effects of AI technologies on the environment are raised by their enormous energy requirements as they develop, with its most recent nuclear arrangement, Google now has over 115 renewable energy contracts totaling more than 14 gigawatts of power.
