Google has just signed a power purchase agreement with nuclear power startup Kairos Power, with delivery starting in 2030 and a 500 MW deployment by 2035.
The company is interested in powering artificial intelligence servers with carbon-free electricity, and like the competition, draws attention to nuclear energy. The U.S. government noticed a shortage of electricity and started negotiations with technology companies to power their infrastructure. These efforts are also encouraging companies to take more action.
It is unclear on what terms Google and Kairos have signed the deal — direct financing or only purchasing energy when everything is ready. Kairos has already overcome several stages on the way to creating small modular reactors (SMRs) and is one of the most promising energy startups. The company was the first to receive a permit from the US regulator to build a demonstration reactor in Tennessee.
The SMR market is fiercely competitive, despite the fact that no reactors have been built yet, fueled by the strong demand for new power generation capacity from data centers. Nuclear pioneer Westinghouse is also working on a small, easy-to-transport and deploy reactor that would produce 5 MW for eight years.
However, this symbiosis of the two technologies has certain vulnerabilities. It is not known for certain how long the boom in artificial intelligence, which requires a lot of energy to process, will last. On the other hand, SMRs have proven to be not so profitable and easy compared to traditional nuclear power. At the very least, at least one of these reactors should eventually become operational.
Sources: The Keyword, Tom’s Hardware
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