Big Tech’s Sudden Rush to Nuclear is a Win/Win for America

Mock-up of Nu-Scale’s small modular nuclear reactor, the first approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2023

The US power generation sector has been hit in recent weeks with story after story about Big Tech firms entering into deals with power providers or developers to satisfy their electricity needs with nuclear generation.

Here are some examples:

· In mid-October, Google said it had entered into an agreement to purchase power for its data center needs from Kairos Power, a developer of small modular reactors (SMRs).

· A couple of weeks earlier, Microsoft and Constellation completed a deal that would involve the restart of Unit 1 at the Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania to power that company’s needs.

· On December 3, Meta issued a request for proposals to nuclear developers to provide up to 4 Gigawatts (GW) of electricity to power data centers and AI no later than the early 2030s.