Google is considering nuclear power to feed its energy-hungry AI data centers | usagoldmines.com

Google might sooner or later use nuclear power to energy its AI knowledge facilities.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned the corporate is “evaluating applied sciences like small modular nuclear reactors.”

If Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s hints on Thursday are any indicator, nuclear power might sooner or later energy a few of Google’s energy-hungry AI data centers.

Google, Pichai mentioned, is searching for power sources that not solely meet its excessive power wants however may even fulfill its purpose of producing net-zero emissions.

The search big goals to achieve net-zero emissions throughout all of its operations by 2030.

“It was a really bold goal and we’re nonetheless going to be working very ambitiously in the direction of it. Clearly, the trajectory of AI investments has added to the size of the duty wanted,” Pichai mentioned in an interview with Nikkei Asia printed Thursday.

“We are actually further investments, be it photo voltaic, and evaluating applied sciences like small modular nuclear reactors, and so forth.,” Pichai added, although he did not specify when and the place Google would begin sourcing electrical energy from nuclear energy crops.

To make certain, this is not the primary time Google has expressed curiosity in clear power options like nuclear power.

In September 2023, Google printed a weblog submit and white paper saying that it could “proceed to take a position considerably” in clear power applied sciences like geothermal energy and hydrogen.

I’m thrilled to share a brand new paper by the Google power and local weather crew about why and the way company clear power patrons ought to help superior clear electrical energy applied sciences wanted to speed up electrical energy grid decarbonization: https://t.co/bZnGkp4RnQ 1/

— Devon Swezey (@DevonSwezey) September 14, 2023

Google is not the one tech big contemplating utilizing nuclear power to energy its knowledge facilities.

Each its rivals, Amazon and Microsoft, have already introduced electrical energy offers with nuclear energy stations.

In March, Amazon inked a $650 million deal to purchase electrical energy from the Susquehanna nuclear energy station, per the Monetary Occasions.

Then, in September, Microsoft signed a 20-year deal to buy power from Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant, the plant’s proprietor, Constellation Power, mentioned in a press release.

The reactor, which was shut down in 2019, is slated to be restarted in 2028.