Bill Gates’ nuclear energy startup signs new data center deal

TerraPower, a nuclear energy startup founded by Bill Gates, Make a deal This week with one of the largest data center developers in the United States to deploy advanced nuclear reactors. TerraPower and Sabey Data Centers (SDC) are working together on a plan to power existing and future nuclear power facilities from small reactors.

Technology companies are scrambling to determine where to get all the electricity they will need for power-hungry AI data centers that are putting increasing pressure on power grids. They are Increasingly shifting to nuclear energyincluding next-generation reactors being developed by startups like TerraPower.

“The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace after decades of business as usual, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries,” Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower, said in a press release.

The memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies stipulates a “strategic cooperation” that will initially look at the possibility of constructing new nuclear power plants in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region that would supply power to SDC data centers.

We still have a long way to go before this becomes a reality. TerraPower’s technology and similar nuclear power startups have yet to succeed Regulatory obstacles And prove that it can be commercially viable.

Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, the next generation of reactors should be smaller and easier to site. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that cause climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates concerned about the impact Uranium mining and Storage of radioactive waste Close to communities.

“I’m a big believer that nuclear energy can help us solve the climate problem, which is very important. There are designs in terms of its safety or the use of fuel or how to deal with waste, that I think reduce those problems.” He said Edge last year.

TerraPower’s reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is the only advanced technology of its kind with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the company. Company only Break the ground In a pilot project in Wyoming last year, it is expected to be operational in 2030.

Microsoft A deal was struck in September to help restart a retired reactor on Three Mile Island. both of them Google and AmazonMeanwhile, it announced plans last year to support the development of advanced reactors to power its data centres.