Wednesday, October 23, 2024
A special edition focused on Microsoft, Google, and Amazon announcing agreements to utilize nuclear energy in the coming years.
Microsoft announced in September that it had signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation, which will see Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 restarted. Three Mile Island is best known for the accident that led to the shutdown of Unit 2 in 1979. However, Unit 1 had no such problems and began commercial operation in 1974 and was only shut down in 2019 for economic reasons. With the agreement with Microsoft taking over all of the company’s power output, current plans are to bring the plant back online by 2028 and extend the plant’s operation until at least 2054. You will be asked to renew your license. Bobby Hollis, Microsoft’s vice president of energy, called it a “massive power plant.” This is a milestone in Microsoft’s efforts to help decarbonize the grid, supporting our commitment to becoming carbon negative. ”
On October 15, Google signed a contract with Kairos Power to support the first commercial deployment of a fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature, advanced small modular nuclear reactor, with the aim of deploying a total of 500 MW of capacity by 2030. announced that they have agreed to purchase energy based on The agreement said the power plants would be located in “relevant service areas to provide clean power to Google’s data centers,” supporting Google’s 24/7 carbon-free energy and net-zero goals.
On October 16, Amazon announced a series of agreements to invest in new nuclear reactor developer XEnergy, initially to operate a new small modular reactor, the Xe-100, at a project in Washington state. Under the project, Amazon will finance the early realization phase of the SMR project on a site near Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant, and Amazon will provide the initial 4-module project with 320 MW of electricity expected to be generated. Have the right to purchase electricity. The second phase plans to triple its production capacity.
Hear some of the key messages from U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm regarding the Amazon announcement and the potential for more data center power deals in the future.
In terms of assessing the importance of the announcement that the case for nuclear power to power the rapidly increasing energy needs of data centers is becoming a reality. All three are global companies, so can we expect more projects elsewhere in the world? Their example can be followed by others looking to reduce their carbon footprint while increasing their power usage. I’m going to do it.
The potential for small modular nuclear reactors has been talked about for years, and of course there are more than 80 designs in development around the world. The challenge is to finance and build something that has never been seen before. And two of these three deals will help X-energy and Kairos Power achieve that, kickstarting critical supply chains and “modular” construction processes.
Even in this episode
Also, Claire Madden of World Nuclear News reports on a very timely session at last month’s World Nuclear Symposium focused on connecting end users to 24/7 energy . The panel discussion included Todd Noe, director of nuclear and energy innovation at Microsoft, Claude Lorrea, director of cement, innovation and ESG at the World Concrete and Cement Association, and Lou Martinez Sancho, chief technology officer and executive vice president of research and development. Contains. Innovations from Westinghouse and Julian Edwards of The Nuclear Company.
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Episode credits: Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production
