Google signs 'world first' nuclear deal for AI data centre power
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The news: Alphabet subsidiary Google has signed the world's first corporate agreement to buy power from multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) to meet electricity demand for artificial intelligence, Reuters reported.
The numbers: Google will purchase 500 megawatts of power from small modular reactor developer Kairos Power.
Google did not reveal financial details of the agreement or where in the US the plants would be built, but said it aims to bring Kairos' first small modular reactor online by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.
The context: The tech giant said it will purchase power from a fleet of SMRs made by Kairos Power. SMRs are intended to be smaller than today's reactors with components built in a factory, instead of onsite, to reduce construction costs.
The deal marks the latest in a number of agreements between tech firms and nuclear power companies in recent months, as big tech companies require more power to build new AI products. It follows last month's deal between Microsoft and Nasdaq-listed uranium play Constellation Energy to help resurrect a unit of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.
What they said: "We feel like nuclear can play an important role in helping to meet our demand ... cleanly in a way that's more around the clock," Michael Terrell, senior director for energy and climate at Google, told reporters.
Kairos CEO and co-founder Mike Laufer said: "We're confident that this novel approach is going to improve the prospects of our projects being delivered on cost and on schedule."
The source: Reuters
