Google, new nuclear reactors to power artificial intelligence

The boom in energy consumption to serve artificial intelligence is coming, and after Amazon, even Google is running for cover by resorting to nuclear power. In fact, the Alphabet group that controls the search engine said it has signed the world's first corporate agreement to purchase power from small modular reactors as the technology company seeks to meet artificial intelligence's demand for electricity. The agreement with Kairos Power aims to bring Kairos' first small modular reactor into operation by 2030, followed by further deployments until 2035.

The companies did not reveal the financial details of the deal or where in the US the plants will be built. Google has stated that it has agreed to purchase 500 megawatts of energy from six or seven reactors, which is less than the output of current nuclear reactors.

"We believe nuclear can play an important role in helping to meet our demand... cleanly and around the clock," Michael Terrell, senior director for energy and climate at Google, told reporters.

This year, technology companies have signed several deals with nuclear power companies as artificial intelligence increases energy demand for the first time in decades. In March, Amazon.com purchased a nuclear-powered data centre from Talen Energy. Last month, Microsoft and Constellation Energy signed an energy deal to help resurrect a unit of the Three.

In March, Amazon.com purchased a nuclear-powered data centre from Talen Energy. Last month, Microsoft and Constellation Energy signed an energy agreement to help resurrect a unit at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, the site of the worst nuclear accident in the United States in 1979. The energy consumption of US data centres is expected to roughly triple between 2023 and 2030 and will require about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity, according to Goldman Sachs estimates, which assumed that natural gas, wind and solar power would fill the gap