Big Tech Companies Aim to Develop Small Nuclear Reactors

Technology company Amazon recently said it is investing in small nuclear reactors to meet its increasing need for electricity.

Amazon's announcement came two days after a similar statement from technology company Google.

Nuclear power is gaining attention as the owner of the Three Mile Island nuclear power station in Pennsylvania announced last month that it will restart the reactor there.

The goal is to sell the energy from the nuclear station to Microsoft to power its huge data centers.

All three companies, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, operate large data centers. They have been spending a lot of money on solar and wind power to create and use electricity that does not produce greenhouse gases. However, their energy needs are so great that they need to find other ways to produce clean energy. Nuclear energy does not create greenhouse gases.

The International Energy Agency in Paris predicts that data centers will use 1,000 terawatts of electricity in 2026. One terawatt is equal to 1 million megawatts. That is double the amount from 2022.

Data centers are important to artificial intelligence or AI systems. AI tools use huge amounts of information to “learn” to do things in a way that is almost human.

Kevin Miller is an official with Amazon Web Services. Miller told the Associated Press, “AI is driving a significant increase in the amount of data centers and power that are required on the grid.” He said adding nuclear power was very important.

Small modular reactors

Small modular reactors can generate up to one third of the power that a traditional nuclear reactor can. Recently, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm spoke at Amazon's second headquarters in Virginia. Speaking of energy production, Granholm said modular reactors are a “huge piece of how we're going to solve this puzzle.” Granholm said the department will provide $900 million to produce more reactors.

Developers say small reactors can be built faster and at a lower cost than large reactors. The developers say they will be able to produce electricity by the early 2030s if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives them permission.

Kathryn Huff is a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and former official at the U.S. Department of Energy. Huff said, if new, clean power is not added as data centers expand, the U.S. risks “browning the grid,” or including more power from sources that are not clean: coal, oil and gas.

Small modular reactors are currently under development. They reportedly do not provide power to the U.S. grid. However, big investors can help them develop. Huff said the recent announcements could be an “inflection point” or a sign that things are changing.

A professor of nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jacopo Buongiorno, said the industry needs buyers who value dependable and clean energy. They only have to be willing to pay more for it at first until the cost comes down.

On October 14, Google said it signed an agreement with Kairos Power based in Alameda, California. Google said it would buy energy from several small, modular reactors.

Google said it expects the first modular reactors to start operations by 2030 with additional ones coming through the year 2035. The deal is expected to generate 500 megawatts of electricity. However, Google's own environmental report estimated that the company used 24 terawatts of electricity last year.

Amazon's October 16 announcement said the company was working with Dominion Energy to study building modular reactors near the North Anna nuclear station in Virginia. The company said it is investing in X-energy, a reactor developer based in Maryland. Amazon is also working with Energy Northwest in Washington state.

The combined deals could produce 5000 megawatts of power by the late 2030s. However, that is likely a small part of Amazon's total power use, which it does not release to the public.

Doug True is an official with the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group. He said new reactor designs could meet industrial needs because of their small size and dependability.

“It seems like a really good fit to support those facilities, and for a lot of different applications depending upon the amount of power that's needed by the customer,” True said.

I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

Alexa St. John and Jennifer McDermott reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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greenhouse gas –n. a carbon-based gas that comes from burning or the breakdown of waste that scientists say can warm the atmosphere

megawatt –n. a measure of power that is 1 million watts

grid –n. the network of lines, production stations and equipment that provide electricity for a large area

generate –v. to create something, especially electricity and power

puzzle –n. a problem that requires thought and effort

facilities –n. (pl.) buildings and equipment for industrial use