Google goes nuclear: Tech giant will use nuclear reactors to generate the massive amounts of energy needed to power its AI data centers

With its Gemini chatbot and Pixel AI phone software, it’s safe to say that Google has an obsessive focus on artificial intelligence.

But all that advanced computing power requires millions of computers, known as “servers,” housed in data centers around the world that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In an effort to meet its massive AI needs, Google is now going nuclear.

The tech giant has signed an agreement with California-based nuclear company Kairos Power to build new nuclear reactors to power its US data centers.

While the location of these reactors has yet to be revealed, Google said the first will be operational in 2030, with more to follow in 2035.

In one blog postMichael Terrell, external senior director for energy and climate at Google, said the deal will “accelerate the clean energy transition in the US.”

However, the companies did not disclose financial details about the deal or where in the U.S. the factories would be built.

“Nuclear solutions provide a clean, 24-hour energy source that can help us reliably meet electricity needs every hour of the day with carbon-free energy,” Terrell said.

“Promoting these energy sources in close collaboration with supportive local communities will rapidly drive the decarbonization of electricity grids around the world.”

Google’s data centers are designed to handle the massive power, storage and cooling demands of AI technology such as the Gemini chatbot and Pixel AI phone software, as well as cloud storage.

But AI – which uses a lot of computing power and in turn electricity 24/7 – mainly drives up the company’s energy consumption and makes reducing emissions “challenging,” the company said.

Google operates approximately 20 data centers in North America and globally, and has recognized the need to “purchase clean energy to meet our electricity needs.”

In 2020, the tech giant set a goal of running on carbon-free energy 24/7 on every electricity grid where it operates by 2030.

To do this, the company is turning to Kairos Power, which, like other existing nuclear power plants, uses a form of energy called nuclear fission.

In nuclear fission, a neutron collides with a uranium atom and splits it, releasing a large amount of energy in the form of heat and radiation.

In nuclear power plants, the heat created by fission is used to boil water into steam, which is then used to drive a turbine that drives generators to make electricity.

Nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gas emissions during their operation, although there is debate about their inclusion as a climate-friendly ‘renewable’ energy source.

Nuclear energy itself is a renewable energy source, but the material used in fission reactions – uranium – is non-renewable.

Founded in 2016, Kairos Power builds so-called “small modular reactors” (SMRs) that are designed to be built in a factory and then shipped to sites for installation.

Kairos Power says its SMRs will use a molten fluoride salt as a coolant instead of water because of its “excellent ability to transfer heat at high temperatures.”

However, critics believe that SMRs will be unnecessarily expensive because they may not be able to achieve the economies of scale of larger plants.

Moreover, they are likely to produce long-lasting nuclear waste – mainly spent uranium fuel – for which the country does not yet have a permanent repository.

Google said it will support the construction of seven Kairos Power SMRs that will supply energy to its data centers, although the deal will be contingent on Kairos obtaining full approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and local agencies.

“The NRC stands ready to efficiently and appropriately review applications for new reactors,” said Scott Burnell, spokesman for the NRC.

Late last year, Kairos Power received a construction permit from the NRC to build a demonstration reactor in Tennessee, but new design and construction permits from NRC are needed for Google’s upcoming reactors.

Tech companies have signed several recent deals with nuclear power companies this year as AI drives energy demand.

In March, Amazon bought a nuclear-powered data center in Pennsylvania from Talen Energy for $650 million.

Last month, Microsoft and Constellation Energy signed an agreement to revive a unit at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, the site of America’s worst nuclear accident in 1979.

U.S. data center power consumption is expected to roughly triple between 2023 and 2030, requiring about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity, according to Goldman Sachs.