AI Is Driving Big Tech Nuclear

Meta has cut a 20-year deal to secure nuclear power to help meet surging demand for artificial intelligence and other computing needs at Facebook's parent company. The investment with Meta will also expand the output of a Constellation Energy nuclear plant in Illinois. The agreement announced Tuesday is just the latest in a string of tech-nuclear partnerships as the use of AI expands, per the AP. The deal takes effect in June 2027, when the state's taxpayer-funded zero-emission credit program expires.

Constellation's Clinton Clean Energy Center was slated to close in 2017 after years of financial losses, but it was saved by Illinois legislation establishing a zero-emission credit program to support the plant into 2027. With the arrival of Meta, Clinton's clean-energy output will expand by 30 megawatts, preserve 1,100 local jobs, and bring in $13.5 million in annual tax revenue, the companies say. The plant currently powers the equivalent of about 800,000 US homes. "Securing clean, reliable energy is necessary to continue advancing our AI ambitions," said Urvi Parekh, Meta's head of global energy.

Surging investments in small nuclear reactors come as large tech companies are facing two major demands: a need to increase their energy supply for AI and data centers, while also trying to meet their long-term goals to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions. Constellation, the owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, said in September that it planned to restart the reactor so Microsoft could secure power to supply its data centers. Three Mile Island, located just outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was the site of the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident in 1979.

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Also last fall, Amazon said it was investing in small nuclear reactors, two days after a similar move by Google. Additionally, Google announced last month that it was investing in three advanced nuclear energy projects with Elementl Power. Last year, 25 states passed legislation to support advanced nuclear energy, and lawmakers this year have introduced more than 200 bills supportive of nuclear energy. Still, it's unlikely the US could quadruple its nuclear production within the next 25 years, as the White House wants. The United States lacks any next-generation reactors operating commercially, and only two new large reactors have been built from scratch in nearly 50 years.