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Google announce today that it has signed a deal with nuclear startup Kairos Power to work up seven small reactors to supply electrical energy to its data center . The accord promises to add together around 500 megawatt of carbon - spare electrical energy at a metre when Energy Department demand for data centers and AI is surging .
The new mogul works are scheduled to do online by the ending of the 10 , accordingto Google . It ’s not clear whether the reactors would gazump up to Google ’s sites directly — an arrangement known as “ behind the meter ” — or if they would prey into the grid with Google claiming the carbon paper - free might by style of its concord with Kairos .
With the wad , Google joins Microsoft and Amazon in turning to atomic big businessman to replete its thirstiness for electrical energy . In September , Microsoft foretell that it would pay Constellation Energy torestart a reactorat Three Mile Island that was shutter in 2019 . Earlier this year , Amazon said it would build a hyperscale data center and like a shot connect it to another nuclear plant in Pennsylvania .
If Kairos can hit the 2030 deadline , it would be a slight rewrite to a late prognosis : As recently as July , the company was place commercial-grade performance by “ the early 2030s , ” according toan article publishedby the U.S. Department of Energy . Even if Kairos can hit the revise target , it ’s lock in a airstream with fusion startup , many of which are direct to turn on commercial-grade - plate mightiness plant before 2035 .
Kairos is one of a new breed of atomic startup that are building small - modular reactors ( SMR ) in an attempt to lower the cost and speed the twist of nuclear force plants .
Most nuclear plants are monolithic installations , supplying 1,000 megawatt or more but take year to plan and nearly a 10 to build . The newest fission reactors in the U.S. , Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia , were commissioned in 2023 and 2024 , severally , snapping a seven - year drought ( the next newest reactor was commissioned in 2016 ) . Still , they were seven years recent and$17 billion over budget .
SMR startups are undertake to build atomic power plants quicker and chintzy by using stack product techniques to institute down price and speed construction . Kairos tries to advance the technology a step further by cool the reactor not with water but with molten salts of Li fluoride and beryllium fluoride . The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the startup ’s programme for a 35 - megawatt manifestation reactor , something that haseludedOklo , another SMR startup .
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Despite the regulative nod , Kairos still confront significant challenge . No commercial small - modular reactor have been commission yet , which mean the economics remain largely unproved . On top of that , Kairos ’ molten salt plan long horse ten of industry experience with water - chill reactors .
But Kairos ’s big challenge might not be technical at all . While 56 % of Americans say they favor nuclear power , according toPew Research , 44 % stay opposed . The number controvert might stand up when nuclear reactor sites are pick ; the Pew survey only ask citizenry if the U.S. should expand nuclear baron broadly , not in their backyard . What ’s more , while support for nuclear great power is near a late high , far morepeople financial backing wind and solar , two engineering that are available today and be far less than young nuclear power plants .
