Meta seeks new nuclear reactors as reliable source to run US data centres

By Will Wade

  Meta Platforms Inc. is seeking as much as 4 gigawatts of new nuclear energy as the company looks for a reliable electricity source for its data centres.  

The Facebook parent is asking developers to submit proposals to deliver 1 gigawatt to 4 gigawatts of reactor capacity, starting in the early 2030s, according to a statement Tuesday. Commercial nuclear reactors generate about 1 gigawatt of electricity, enough for 750,000 typical homes.

 

Meta is racing to line up clean energy to meet the massive electricity needs of its artificial intelligence ambitions. Like fellow tech giants Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., it’s now pursuing a tantalising but hard-to-develop energy source — nuclear power. Reactors offer the promise of clean energy around the clock, but electric utilities have shown little interest in building them, due to their high cost and long construction timelines. Deep-pocketed technology companies may be able to accelerate development of the next wave of nuclear plants.

 

“They are willing to take on a little more of the early financial risk,” said Adam Stein, director of nuclear energy innovation at the Breakthrough Institute research organisation. “Utility companies are not keeping pace with technology companies’ needs.” 

 

Meta said it would consider both large, conventional reactors and small modular designs, a new approach that may be faster and cheaper to deploy but remains untested. 

 

The announcement follows recent announcements from Alphabet and Amazon to invest in companies developing advanced reactor technologies. And Microsoft Corp. has agreed to buy power from a reactor that Constellation Energy Corp. plans to restart at the Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania. 

 

While there’s almost no nuclear construction activity now in the US, Stein said Meta’s goal to have power in the next decade is feasible.

 

“There are definitely some candidates that may be ready by the early 2030s,” he said. “If they get started very soon.”