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Google and nuclear site developer Elementl Power foretell this week that they will work together on three sites for advanced nuclear reactor .
The technical school party has been rushing to lock up vigor author as its AI ambitions ram raise office demand at its data centers . This year alone , Google plans to spend$75 billionbuilding data center mental ability .
With the young deal , Google is foretell to sum at least 600 megawatt of generating capability at each of the three sites . Elementl say the reactors will be connected to the power grid “ with the option for commercial off - take , ” meaning that Google can buy power straight .
Elementl has been operating stealthily until this declaration . The team has experience in the nuclear industry , though it has n’t develop any exponent plant yet . The party was started by Breakwater North and is bet on by Energy Impact Partners .
Elementl is taking a “ technology agnostic ” advance , imply that it has n’t decided on which lowly modular reactor ( SMR ) company it will work with to develop the projection . There are a numeral of possibilities , though Kairos Power is a probable frontrunner give itsexisting great deal with Google .
Kairossaysits demo plant will generate 50 megawatt of electricity , with an eventual commercial plant produce 150 megawatt split up between two nuclear reactor .
There ’s no universally accept definition , but SMRs tend to top out at 300 megawatt or so . By compare , the most of late completed nuclear big businessman plant in the U.S. , Vogtle Unit 4 in Georgia , generates over 1.1 gigawatts of electrical energy , closely four times the sizing of a large SMR .
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Silicon Valley has been smitten by SMRs . Startups have been hurry into the blank space , promising to slash reactor monetary value through spate manufacturing enable by SMRs ’ smaller size of it . That , coupled with the promise of 24/7 power that could be sit near to information snapper , has push them to sign a number of deal with SMR startup , includingOklo , X - Energy , and the aforementioned Kairos .
Yet no SMR has been built outdoors of China . One startup , NuScale , has catch close to building one , but itsuffered a setbackin 2023 when its utility mate canceled its declaration after the approximate cost of the project more than double — even as the plans were downsized in an crusade to check price .
