Google to buy nuclear power for AI datacentres in ‘world first’ deal
Google has signed a “world first” deal to buy energy from a fleet of mini nuclear reactors to generate the power needed for the rise in use of artificial intelligence.
The US tech corporation has ordered six or seven small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from California’s Kairos Power, with the first due to be completed by 2030 and the remainder by 2035.
The US company, owned by Alphabet, said nuclear provided “a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands”.
Last month, Microsoft struck a deal to take energy from Three Mile Island, activating the plant for the first time in five years. The site, in Pennsylvania, was the location of the most serious nuclear meltdown in US history, in March 1979. Amazon bought a datacentre powered by nuclear energy in March from Talen Energy.
The locations of the new plants and financial details of the agreement were not revealed. Google has agreed to buy a total of 500 megawatts of power from Kairos, which was founded in 2016 and is building a demonstration reactor in Tennessee, due to be completed in 2027.
