It was agreed upon by the corporation to purchase energy from seven tiny nuclear reactors that were constructed by Kairos Power.
The artificial intelligence (AI) drive at Google is being powered by nuclear energy. Earlier this week, the firm announced that it will collaborate with the young company Kairos Power to construct seven tiny nuclear reactors in the United States. One of the goals of the agreement is to increase the amount of nuclear electricity generated by small modular reactors (SMRs) by 500 megawatts by the end of the decade. The first one is anticipated to be operational by the year 2030, and the remaining ones are anticipated to arrive as late as 2035.
The purchase of nuclear power from small modular reactors (SMRs) is a first-of-its-kind corporate transaction. Compared to conventional reactors, compact modular reactors are significantly smaller. Because their components are manufactured within a factory rather than on-site, the construction costs associated with them are far cheaper than those associated with full-scale plants.
When it comes to obtaining design and construction permits for the proposals, Kairos will require approval from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It has already been approved for the startup to construct a demonstration reactor in the state of Tennessee, and the online date is anticipated to be in the year 2027. The organization already constructs test units at a development center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it evaluates its supply chain, components, and systems. These test units do not contain any components that are related to nuclear fuel.
The information regarding the financial aspects of the arrangement was not disclosed by the companies. In addition to bringing the energy online more quickly, Google claims that the structure of the transaction will help to keep costs low.
“We will help accelerate the repeated reactor deployments that are needed to lower costs and bring Kairos Power’s technology to market more quickly,” Michael Terrell, Google’s senior director for energy and climate, wrote in a blog post. “By procuring electricity from multiple reactors — what experts call a ‘orderbook’ of reactors — we will help accelerate the deployment of reactors,” Terrell said. This is an essential component of our strategy to extend the advantages of cutting-edge technologies to a greater number of individuals and communities, and it builds upon the prior efforts that we have made.
Several agreements between large technology businesses and the nuclear sector have been reached as a result of the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) and the massive quantity of data center electricity that it consumes. Microsoft and Constellation Energy came to a deal in September to bring a unit of the Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania back online. The plant is located in Pennsylvania. Amazon made a purchase from Talen Energy in March of a data center that was powered by nuclear energy.