Big tech doubles down on nuclear AI needs amid concerns

Amazon, Google and Meta support tripling nuclear capacity

Microsoft signed a deal last year to help resurrect a unit of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to generate power to offset its data center electricity use. (Photo by Jose Jordan / AFP)Show less

The electricity needed to power AI data centres is causing technology companies to double down on their push for a nuclear energy renaissance.

Amazon, Google and Meta signed a petition to support the goal of at least tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050, announced last week by the World Nuclear Association during the CERAWEEK by S&P Global energy conference in Houston, Texas.

“Recognising that by ensuring that nuclear and other energy sources have equal access to finance, governments can enable nuclear capacity deployment at scale worldwide,” the petition read, stating that “nuclear energy can provide round the clock energy independently of the weather, the season or the geographical location”.

“This is not the end, it is just the beginning,” said World Nuclear Association director Sama Bilbao y Leon of the petition. “We know that many other large energy users are considering joining the pledge in the future.”

Given the growing interest and investment in AI, that seems to be a safe bet. According to a report from the US Energy Department, data centres consumed about 4.4 per cent of total electricity in the country, but by 2028, that share could increase to 12 per cent.

By most estimates, a simple query to an AI chatbot uses 10 times more energy than a similar search on Google. That's because the large language models that make up the backbone of AI contain parameters that require ample computing power that quickly consumes electricity.

Chart of the week: ChatGPT energy use

In short, increasingly powerful large language models require more energy-intensive data centres, which place a bigger burden on the electricity grid.

The petition came several weeks after an announcement from Constellation Energy, which said that it was ahead of schedule with its much-touted plans to restart Three Mile Island's (TMI) Unit 1 nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania as part of a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft, which is also seeking to power its AI data centres.

“Every new milestone confirms our belief that the Crane Clean Energy Centre can be returned to service better than ever, restoring 835 megawatts of carbon-free energy to the regional grid at a critical time for Pennsylvania and our nation,” said Joe Dominguez, chief executive of Constellation.

Constellation has said that the project could create “3,400 direct and indirect jobs” while also adding more than “800 megawatts of carbon-free electricity to the grid”.

The Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Middletown, Pennsylvania back in 1979 prompted US President Jimmy Carter to visit with hopes of reassuring the public that the plant was safely shut down. Photo: US National Archives

The juxtaposition of the initial announcement made by Constellation several months ago stands in stark contrast with the history of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, which was the site of the one of the biggest nuclear accidents in US history. In 1979, the core of Unit 2 was partially exposed, leading to a temporary evacuation of the nearby area and a lengthy clean-up. The incident left a black mark and stigma on nuclear energy that lingers to this very day.

In turn, those fears caused by the accident TMI Unit 2, along with Chernobyl's deadly 1986 explosion and Fukushima's 2011 disaster, are colliding with the collective effort by technology companies to bring more nuclear reactors on line.

“You cannot erase or rewrite history,” said Eric Epstein, director of Three Mile Island Alert, a grass roots safe energy organisation founded in 1977, two years before the Unit 2 accident.

Eric Epstein, director of Three Mile Island Alert, said his group opposes efforts to restore and restart TMI Unit 1. Photo: TMI Alert

Mr Epstein was referring to Constellation's decision the name from TMI Unit 1 to Crane Clean Energy Centre. “This is an act of cultural vandalism. You can’t rebrand a nuclear disaster,” he added, also expressing scepticism about the jobs promised.

Mr Epstein, along with others who live in the shadow of Three Mile Island on the Susquehanna River, aren't buying into the renewed nuclear optimism presented by Big Tech.

“This is like retrofitting an Edsel,” he said, referring to Constellation's TMI Unit 1 plan, also accusing the company and the nuclear industry of using taxpayer funded subsidies.

“Anyone can be over confident when you have $2 billion of other peoples' money in your back packet.” He also questioned who will ultimately benefit from the energy generated by the reactor. He has described TMI Unit 1 as a “zombie reactor” that will serve to provide electricity to data centres in Virginia, Illinois and Ohio.

Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, however, has praised the progress made on TMI Unit 1, and saying that the reactor will play a crucial role “in providing safe, reliable, clean electricity”.

Meanwhile, there's also a major push from various technology companies like Amazon, Oracle and OpenAI, to pursue the idea of using small modular nuclear reactors, as a potential way to bridge the energy gap created by AI.

Pending approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Three Mile Island's Unit 1 is expected to restart in 2028.