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Meta, formerly Facebook, has announced plans to add 1-4GW of new nuclear energy capacity in the US in the early 2030s.
Meta states the new power is needed:
- to provide Meta’s future energy needs, in particular data centers for artificial intelligence
- to advance broader industry decarbonization
One nuclear power plant, on average, produces 1 GW of power in the US, so potentially up to 4 new nuclear power plants.
“We believe that nuclear energy can help provide firm, baseload power to support the growth needs of the electric grids that power both our data centers (the physical infrastructure on which Meta’s platforms operate) as well as the communities around them”
— Meta, Accelerating the Next Wave of Nuclear to Power AI Innovation
Due to the capital intensive nature, development and regulatory requirements for nuclear power, compared to renewable energy, Meta plans to release a request for proposals (RFP) to identify nuclear energy developers to help meet their objectives.
The move comes as Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all announced significant investment in nuclear power across the US to power their data centers.
US data center power use is estimated to approximately triple between 2023 and 2030 and will require about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity.
Our analysis on the second nuclear renaissance:
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