Google has announced the next step in nuclear power plans

Google approaches one step to reach its nuclear ambitions now after it works with Tennesse Valley Authory (TVA) in the benefit of public energy to purchase electricity from the next generation reactor. It is the first energy purchase agreement Technology is advanced The American tool you provided, according to companies.

The plan is to purchase TVA electricity from a reactor that is developed by the Kairos Power engineering company in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Once the reactor is operated, it is expected in 2030, it should start providing electricity to the local network that serves the Google Data centers in Tennessee and Albama.

If they can withdraw all this, this may help start a completely new era of nuclear energy in the United States. The current nuclear reactors fleet in the country uses a technology of contracts that are fighting to compete with cheap electricity from gas stations, solar energy and wind farms. Kairos Power builds one of the first reactors that supporters hope to be able to create nuclear energy, and meet the growing demand for electricity from Big Tech and AI.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee – where Cyrus was building Hermes 2 – was once at the headquarters Manhattan Project. Now, instead of housing facilities that enrich uranium for the first atomic bombs, Oak Ridge has become a center for nuclear energy and research projects.

In the end, Google aims to help Kairos spread 500 MW of the new nuclear power in the United States by 2035. For context, I had 94 nuclear reactors in America A. Combined 97,000 MW in 2024 It made a little less than 20 percent of the American electricity mix. Hermes 2 is supposed to reach 50 MW capacity.

Companies that generate electricity free from carbon pollution, such as nuclear energy and renewable energy, can earn money by selling the electricity they provide to the power network and By selling The so -called Clean energy features It resembles separate certificates that represent the environmental benefits to avoid fossil fuel emissions. Google will receive clean energy features from the Hermes 2 factory through TVA.

Climate targets of technology often buy clean energy features to try to cancel pollution caused by electricity use. By matching the use of electricity with these certificates, the company may claim that it works on clean energy even if it is connected to a power network that is still working on dirty energy. Additional income is supposed to help developers to add more pollution -free energy to the network (although research has shown that Environmental benefits are often exaggerated). Carbon from Google The emissions rose again last year As Increase artificial intelligence offers.