Bill Gates' Terrapower wants to operate US data centers with nuclear energy
The hunger for electricity in data centers knows no bounds. One of the US data center operators now wants to use mini-nuclear power plants from Terrapower.
This is how Terrapower envisions a mini nuclear power plant.
(Image: Terrapower)
Ex-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates' nuclear energy start-up Terrapower wants to use small nuclear reactors to operate data centers together with one of the largest operators of data centers in the USA, Sabey Data Centers (SDC). The two companies reached a joint agreement to this effect on Wednesday, SDC writes in a press release. The company intends to use this to cover the increasing power requirements of energy-intensive data centers for artificial intelligence (AI), for example.
The plan is to initially explore the potential for new nuclear power plants to supply power to data centers in the US state of Texas and the Rock Mountains region.
Compact sodium nuclear power plants
New types of sodium nuclear power plants that use sodium instead of water for cooling are to be used. This reduces construction costs, as the necessary containment, redundant safety systems and cooling water circulation can be dispensed with in sodium nuclear power plants. Uranium and plutonium or other transuranium elements are used for the nuclear reaction. Overall, the reactors are said to consume fewer resources due to the lower construction costs.
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The reactors are also more efficient. A sodium-cooled fast reactor from Terrapower has an output of around 345 MW. If required, the output can be ramped up to 500 MW. According to SDC, the system can deliver a constant basic output, but can be ramped up quickly when demand peaks.
Terrapower already began building a mini power plant as a pilot project in June 2024. It is being built in a decommissioned coal-fired power plant in the US state of Wyoming near the town of Kemmerer.
Terrapower presents itself as a "green" company because the nuclear reactors do not produce emissions like coal-fired power plants, which use fossil fuels and therefore emit COâ‚‚. However, small nuclear reactors are just as environmentally unfriendly as larger nuclear power plants, as the disposal of nuclear waste is also problematic.
SDC is not alone in its plans, however. Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta also want to use nuclear power to generate energy for their AI data centers.
(olb)
