It’s not new news that big tech companies have been looking at nuclear for powering their datacenter, but Google is making some news in my home state. Here is Amanda Peterson Corio, the company’s Global Head of Data Center Energy:
Today we announced the first deployment of Kairos Power’s advanced nuclear reactor — the Hermes 2 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee — through a new power purchase agreement (PPA) between Kairos Power and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Marking the first purchase of electricity from an advanced GEN IV reactor by a U.S. utility, this agreement will enable 50 megawatts (MW) of nuclear energy on TVA’s grid that powers our data centers in Montgomery County, Tennessee and Jackson County, Alabama.
Last October, we began a long-term collaboration with Kairos Power to unlock up to 500 MW of nuclear power for the U.S. electricity system through multiple deployments of their small modular reactor. With this next step, we are creating a three-party solution where energy customers, utilities, and technology developers work together to advance new technologies that can help meet the world’s growing energy needs with reliable, affordable capacity.
TVA will buy power from the Kairos plant starting in 2030.
Oak Ridge is a name that may be familiar to some, as the site was part of the Manhattan Project. My wife’s grandmother worked there as a chemist many decades ago.
I don’t have strong feelings about nuclear power, but this is definitely another example of how the demands of AI and other services continue to grow at an alarming rate.