Google wants to buy nuclear power for data centers

ALAMEDA (dpa-AFX) – After Microsoft, Google is also relying on nuclear energy to power data centers in times of energy-hungry artificial intelligence. The internet company wants to buy power from innovative micro-reactors from developer Kairos Power starting in 2030. Annual production is expected to reach 500 megawatts by 2035.

It's about six or seven power plants, Google director Michael Terrill told the Financial Times. It is still unclear whether electricity from the reactors should be connected to the grid or whether it will be connected directly to data centers. The financial details of the deal also remained unclear, as did whether Google wanted to help finance the construction of the power plants or just buy the electricity after they were completed.

A special feature of Kairos compact reactors is that they are not cooled by water, but by molten fluoride salts. The company asserts that its design is safer than traditional reactors, simply because the coolant does not boil. Last year, Kairos received approval to build its first test reactor in Tennessee.

Climate promises collide with energy-hungry artificial intelligence

Big technology companies have committed to climate-neutral businesses and have increasingly relied on renewable energies in recent years. But then came the AI ​​boom. Training and running programs using AI requires a lot of activity in data centers – and this also entails high energy consumption.

The bottom line is that Google wants to be climate neutral by 2030. To achieve these goals, its carbon dioxide emissions are offset by countermeasures such as planting trees. Last year, the percentage of carbon dioxide-free energy consumed by Google's data centers and offices was 64 percent. At the same time, the group's CO2 emissions rose by 13 percent in one year. Energy consumption in data centers has played a central role. Google is trying to take a leading role in the use of artificial intelligence with the dominance of its search engine.

Block Reactor only for Microsoft

A reactor at the decommissioned US Three Mile Island nuclear power plant is set to be restarted for Microsoft in the coming years. The software giant has agreed to buy the energy produced for 20 years. The reactor's annual production is about 800 megawatts.

Microsoft has also set ambitious climate goals. At the beginning of 2020, Windows announced that it would offset its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. By 2050, Microsoft promised to completely eliminate the carbon dioxide emissions that the company has produced since its founding. In recent years, Microsoft has allied itself with OpenAI, the inventor of ChatGPT, and is integrating the technology behind the chatbot into almost all of its products./so/DP/eg