Google (GOOGL.US) signed an agreement with a nuclear energy company, can AI's “electricity swallowing dilemma” be alleviated?

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Google (GOOGL.US) said on Monday that it will buy electricity from a series of small nuclear power reactors (SMR) produced by nuclear startup Kairos Power. The giant said that purchasing electricity from multiple SMRs sent an “important signal of demand” to the market, while also making long-term investments to accelerate commercialization. Boosted by this news, advanced nuclear technology companies Oklo (OKLO.US) and NuScale Power (SMR.US) closed sharply higher on Monday, closing 9.7% and 6.1%, respectively.

Google said it signed the world's first corporate agreement to buy electricity from multiple small modular reactors to meet the power needs of artificial intelligence. The company will buy electricity from 7 reactors built by Kairos power, with the goal of increasing the installed nuclear power capacity by 500 megawatts starting by the end of this decade. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Michael Terrell (Michael Terrell), Google's senior director of energy and climate, said in a conference call with reporters, “We believe that nuclear power plays a key role in supporting our clean growth and helping to advance artificial intelligence.” “Power grids need these clean, reliable energy to support the development of these technologies... We feel that nuclear power can play an important role in helping meet our needs, and can also meet our needs in a cleaner way around the clock.”

The company did not disclose financial terms of the deal.

Big tech companies are arranging power for the huge data centers needed to run artificial intelligence systems, prompting utilities to build more natural gas power plants, while also sparking interest in nuclear power plants that provide clean energy around the clock. Today, more and more technology companies are using nuclear power as a way to meet the growing energy needs of data centers.

There are only three small reactors in operation worldwide, not including the US. People are hoping that small reactors will be a more cost-effective way to expand the scale of nuclear power generation. In the past, large-scale commercial-scale nuclear reactor projects often exceeded budget and lagged behind schedule, and many hoped that small reactors would not repeat the same mistakes. But to some extent, this is uncharted territory.

Kairos power was founded in 2016 and is supported by the US Department of Energy. In July, the company began construction of the Hermes low power demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Kairos Power does not use water as a reactor coolant like traditional nuclear reactors, but instead uses molten fluoride salts.

Google said the first reactor will be put into use in 2030, and more reactors will be put into use in 2035. A total of 500 megawatts of electricity will be added to the grid. This is much smaller than commercial reactors. For example, the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4, which was put into use this year, has an installed capacity of 1.1 gigawatts, but there is a lot of power behind the small nuclear power reactor. Proponents point out that it costs less, takes faster to complete, and is more flexible in location.

Monday's statement is yet another example of the increasingly close partnership between technology companies and nuclear power. Data centers require reliable power around the clock, and nuclear power is currently the only source of electricity for basic loads without emissions. Many hyperscale companies have set ambitious emissions reduction targets, which is why they are switching to nuclear energy.

Constellation Energy (CEG.US) is restarting Sanli Island to power the Microsoft (MSFT.US) data center, while Amazon purchased a data center powered by the Susquehanna nuclear power plant from Talen Energy (TLN.US). Bill Gates, Sam Ultrman, and Jeff Bezos have all supported nuclear power companies.

Earlier this year, Google said its emissions had increased by nearly 50% compared to 2019, partly due to increased energy consumption in data centers.

“This is a very promising bet, and if we can scale up these projects and expand further globally, it will bring huge benefits to communities and power grids around the world,” Terrell said.

According to information, Kairos Power needs to obtain comprehensive construction and design permits from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and local agencies. This process may take several years; the company has already obtained construction permits from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a model reactor in Tennessee.