Mini nuclear reactors could soon power data centers
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A new report has suggested that nuclear power could be a viable option to provide clean power to some of the world’s largest data centers.
Analyzers from the technology research firm Omdia argue that small modular reactors (SMRs) could become prevalent in the coming years, replacing the need for data centers to draw power from the grid with their own eco-friendly alternative.
Such reactors have been used for many years in certain industries, such as powering submarines for the US Navy, which has more than 80 vessels using the technology.
Wealth potential
SMRs produce much less power than standard nuclear facilities, measured in megawatts as opposed to gigawatts.
Speak against The register (opens in new tab)one of the report’s co-authors, Alan Howard, said it is difficult to get an accurate figure of the power consumption of the data centers used by cloud storage providers because such figures are often not easily or accurately provided.
A typical large-scale data center can use 125 MW of power, which means that four SMRs are needed if they produce an average of 35 MW each.
One problem, however, is the amount of space required to house SMRs, which typically require around 200,000 square feet. This means they are only really viable on the largest data center sites. For this reason, the report recommends its use for colocations requiring more than 100 MW.
However, Howard also suggests that smaller centers could partner with other local industries to make use of excess power. In addition, he also claimed that even smaller reactors, known as microreactors, could be used as backup power in data centers, replacing batteries and diesel generators currently in use.
Another concern that has always stuck with nuclear power is safety. Howard and his co-author Vladimir Galabov argue that because of the small scale of SMRs, they are much less risky, and that they have also corrected the design and safety issues of older reactors.
However, another drawback remains and that is waste. Radioactive by-products persist for a long time; they are highly poisonous and there is no way to get rid of them except to keep them in barrels and wait, possibly thousands of years, for them to be safe.
While SMRs don’t need to be refueled as often – currently this can be about every 10 years, and the report claims newer designs could increase this to 30-40 years – SMRs are found it (opens in new tab) to produce 35 times more waste than larger nuclear power plants.
However, optimism still remains around SMRs. On the cost side, NuScale, an SMR startup, estimates that its reactors will cost between $40/MWh and $65/MWh over a number of years over their lifetime, putting them close to wind and natural gas costs but just behind solar energy.
However, the US Energy Information Bureau (opens in new tab) expects wind and natural gas to increase over the coming decades and solar to remain flat, making SMR more favorable by comparison.
Confidence in SMRs appears to be relatively strong, with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission giving the go-ahead for their use in the US. However, according to Howard, its use could take another decade, according to the most optimistic measurements. Realistically, he speculated that its use in data centers would last more than 10-15 years.