Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc. on Wednesday signed a pledge to at least triple nuclear energy worldwide by 2050, the latest and boldest effort yet by Big Tech to quench insatiable energy demand in the U.S. as they build out artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
The non-binding pledge, announced at a global energy conference in Houston, highlights increasingly aggressive actions by the tech industry to use nuclear power after concluding that renewable energy alone isn’t enough. As AI grows, so has the need for more energy despite a spike in data centers — hence the nod to nuclear.
“The unprecedented support announced today by some of the world’s most influential companies to at least triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 sends a clear signal to accelerate policy, finance and regulatory changes that enable the rapid expansion of nuclear power,” Sama Bilbao y Leon, director general of the World Nuclear Association, said in a statement.
“Google will continue to work alongside our partners to accelerate the commercialization of advanced nuclear technologies that can provide the around-the-clock clean energy necessary to meet growing electricity demand around the world,” Lucia Tian, clean energy and decarbonization, at Google added.
Amazon, Google and Microsoft Corp. have invested billions of dollars into nuclear energy facilities to supply companies with emissions-free electricity to feed their AI services. The tech giants are scrambling to strike deals and partnerships with operators and developers of nuclear power plants to refurbish traditional power plants or build small modular reactors (SMRs), which offer a smaller footprint and quicker building times.
Amazon, in particular, has generated plenty of moves. It is leading a $500 million funding round for X-Energy Reactor, a company that specializes in SMRs through which Amazon intends to bring more than 5GW of new power projects online in the U.S. by 2039.
The e-tail behemoth is also exploring options in Washington, Pennsylvania and Virginia, where it is pursuing an SMR project with Dominion Energy near the North Anna nuclear power station.
“Accelerating nuclear energy development will be critical to strengthening our nation’s security, meeting future energy demands, and addressing climate change. Amazon supports the World Nuclear Association’s pledge, and is proud to have invested more than $1 billion over the last year in nuclear energy projects and technologies, which is part of our broader Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040,” Brandon Over, head of Americas Energy and Water at AWS, said.
“These tech companies are doing this not because they want to, but because they have to,” James Walker, a nuclear physicist and CEO of NANO Nuclear Energy Inc., said in an interview. “NVIDIA will be in the same boat. They and others are capped by what they can remove from the grid. And for many, SMRs are the most likely path because they are more affordable, scalable, and a deployable option.”
There are nearly 100 active nuclear power plant reactors in the U.S. — the most of any country — though the nation has tried to build 250 since 1960. Many fell by the wayside because of steep costs, construction delays and a paucity of permanent storage for spent nuclear fuel.
One option under consideration are micro nuclear reactors, which are smaller than SMRs and can be built faster and at a fraction of the cost. Microreactors cost less than conventional nuclear reactors and SMRs, and do not use any liquid coolant, thus eliminating the possibility of a meltdown.
