Google signs nuclear deal to power AI data centres

Google has become the latest artificial intelligence-focused company to strike a nuclear energy deal to meet rising power demand from data centres.
The technology giant said it has signed the world’s first corporate agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors, in a move it believes could help spur a nuclear revival in America.
The proposed reactors will be developed by Kairos Power, a California-based company, with the first small modular reactor scheduled to come online in America by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.
Google, which owns and operates data centres around the world, has agreed to buy a total of 500 megawatts of power from six to seven reactors.
The companies did not reveal where in the US the plants would be built.
Google joins Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle in seeking a clean-energy solution to meet their growing appetite for electricity to power the data centres needed for technologies such as AI and cloud computing.
US data centre power use is expected to roughly triple between 2023 and 2030 and will require about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity, according to research by Goldman Sachs.
In March, Amazon Web Services agreed to buy a nuclear-powered data centre and as much as 960 megawatts of capacity from Talen Energy, an independent power producer.
Last month Microsoft signed a deal to help resurrect a unit of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, the site of America’s worst nuclear power plant disaster in 1979.
Kairos’s small nuclear reactors are designed to be safer and more efficient than traditional nuclear reactors. Google said the technology uses a molten-salt cooling system, combined with fuel, to efficiently transport heat to a steam turbine to generate power.
The system allows the reactor to operate at low pressure, enabling a simpler, more affordable nuclear reactor design. The smaller size and modular design can reduce construction timelines, allow deployment in more places and make the final project delivery more predictable, Google said.
Robert Little, a sustainability strategy lead at Google, said the deal with Kairos “could be a game-changer, demonstrating confidence in the potential of advanced nuclear power to provide reliable, carbon-free energy”.
In a post on LinkedIn, he said: “It’s important to acknowledge that nuclear power is a complex issue with a history of concerns surrounding safety, waste disposal, and proliferation risks. However, advancements in reactor technology, like SMRs [small modular reactors], aim to address these challenges with enhanced safety features, reduced waste generation, and increased proliferation resistance.”
Kairos will need to get a construction and design permit from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as permits from local agencies to develop the reactors.
Jeffrey Olson, vice-president for business development and finance at Kairos Power, said the deal would “catalyse the commercialisation of advanced nuclear power plants — a technology imperative to driving the energy transition forward — which will add critical carbon-free capacity to the grid”.
He said the agreement “enables the expansion of advanced carbon-free energy not only for Google, but for the grid as a whole”.