Nuclear power has emerged as a strong candidate for companies looking to power data centers while cutting emissions. Unlike wind turbines and solar arrays that generate electricity intermittently, nuclear power plants typically put out a constant supply of energy to the grid, which aligns well with what data centers need. …
It also doesn’t hurt that, while renewables are increasingly politicized and under attack by the current administration in the US, nuclear has broad support on both sides of the aisle.
The problem is how to build up nuclear capacity …. To meet electricity demand from data centers expected in 2030 with nuclear power, we’d need to expand the fleet of reactors in the country by half.
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No individual technology, including nuclear power, is likely to be the one true solution. As Google’s [Michael Terrell, senior director of clean energy] puts it, everything from wind and solar, energy storage, geothermal, and yes, nuclear, will be needed to meet both energy demand and climate goals. “I think nuclear gets a lot of love,” he says. “But all of this is equally as important.”
