Energy-consuming generative AI models make the large energy needs of Big Tech quickly even more demanding and forcing companies to look for energy in unlikely places. While Meta and Google are researching modern geothermal technology and Other newer experimental energy sourcesMicrosoft takes a step back in time. Deze week het bedrijf signed a contract for twenty years To get energy from the legendary Three Mile Island core center in Pennsylvania, a location that was once known for The worst reactor accident in American history. If this succeeds, the effort would breathe new life into the iconic symbol of the American nuclear energy and microsoft may provide around 800 megawatts of clean energy to help satisfy the growing hunger for energy.

“This agreement is an important milestone in Microsoft’s efforts to make the electricity grid carbon-free, to support our aim to become CO2-negative,” said Microsoft VP Energy Bobby Hollis in a statement.

Three Mile Island, located about two hours west of Philadelphia, changed the route of nuclear energy in the US 45 years ago. Before sunrise on March 28, 1979, the unit 2 reactors of the facility partially melted away. A little radioactive gas is released in the air As a result, the nearby area panicked. Terwijl er waren No registered deaths after the core meltinghas caused the incident permanent damage to the public perception of nuclear energy. Now many environmental scientists and researchers claim that the reaction might be exaggerated. Nuclear energy is considered a Because it does not cause greenhouse gas emissions (although it does cause nuclear waste). It is also more reliable than renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy. This always availability is attractive for technology companies such as Microsoft, which need all the possible power to keep their data center running and well cooled.

The comeback

De nucleaire faciliteit op Three Mile Island bleef na het incident in 1979 nog tientallen jaren in bedrijf. Vijf jaar geleden ging het uiteindelijk offline, niet vanwege veiligheidsproblemen, maar vanwege economische tegenwind. Electricity supplier Constellation has inspected the sleeping installation in the last twenty months to determine whether they can make it a viable energy producer again. Ze geloven dat het kan, maar tegen een bepaalde prijs. In one press releaseConstellation said it is planning to spend $ 1.6 billion from its own resources to breathe new life into the factory, where investments go to replacing the main transformer of Unit 1 and restoring turbines and cooling systems. The Washingtonpost notes This would be the first time that an American nuclear power plant came back online after dismantling and the first time that a single customer would decrease full energy production.

Ultimately, Constellation believes that the new and improved Three Mile Island facility could employ 600 employees on site and could generate 835 megawatts of electricity that is delivered to the electricity grid. dat is grofweg genoeg energie om 700.000 huishoudens van stroom te voorzien. Constellation is also planning to rename the Crane Energy Center facility, to the deceased CEO of the company, Chris Crane. De centrale zou al in 2028 in bedrijf kunnen worden genomen, onder voorbehoud van goedkeuring door de Amerikaanse Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Before it was closed prematurely because of the poor economy, this plant was one of the safest and most reliable nuclear power plants on the electricity grid, and we look forward to bringing him back with a new name and a renewed mission to as an economic engine for Pennsylvania serve. ”, Says Constellation President and CEO Joe Dominguez in a statement.

Technology companies need more clean energy to drive future AI

to meet the growing demand for electricity. Just like some of his competitors, Microsoft has promised this reach a zero-canon emission and be CO2 negative in 2030. However, the race for generative AI-Supematie endangers that goal. Een Goldman Sachs prediction Recently estimates that one chatgpt search requires about 10 times as much electricity as a Google search. Overall, the energy needed to drive up emerging generative AI image and video models such as Sora van OpenAi, according to the same report “No precedent.” Some reports Suggesting that the huge data centers in which these AI models are housed could take care of more than 9% of the total energy demand in the country by 2030.

Doubt whether existing renewable sources such as solar and wind energy can generate enough energy quickly enough to meet all that new demand. The aforementioned prediction of Goldman Sachs estimates that, with current energy projections, fossil fuels could make more than half (60%) of the energy used to meet the upcoming demand for data centers. That dirty energyilemma has ensured that technology companies have become creative. Both Meta and Google invest in startups in the field of geothermal energy that are getting closer. Amazone, that has provided his support to Anthropic AIrecently announced an energy agreement With languages ​​Energy to buy energy from the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, Pennsylvania. Microsoft founder and former CEO Bill Gates did that too In smaller, more experimental nuclear reactors throughout the country.

AI gives nuclear energy the necessary shock

The turn from Microsoft to nuclear energy comes in the midst of a clear shift in the attitude towards the once criticized energy source. More than half (57%) of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania were questioned this year by a local polling station said they would support the reopening of Three Mile Island. Nationally, 56% of American adults interrogated by the Pew Research Center zeiden dat ze kernenergie steunden, een cijfer dat sterk gestegen is ten opzichte van de 43% slechts vier jaar geleden. Last year, legislators in California suddenly turned back a decision To close the Diablo Canyon energy plant. In the meantime, the federal government and the state of Michigan are too Allegedly $ 2 billion spent . The mix of changing perceptions around nuclear energy and the sudden need of the technology industry for new energy have potentially put the American nuclear energy into one of the most promising positions of recent years.