Big Tech's Billions Are Betting a Nuclear Power Revival Can Keep Up With AI's Energy Demand
Major tech companies have committed tens of billions of dollars to nuclear power deals over the past year to feed AI data centers that need constant, round-the-clock electricity. In January, Meta announced agreements with Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo and Constellation Energy to secure up to 6.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, including funding for two TerraPower units and a nuclear technology campus in Pike County, Ohio. Microsoft separately signed a 20-year, $1.6 billion deal with Constellation Energy to revive the shuttered Three Mile Island Unit 1 plant in Pennsylvania. President Trump has signed executive orders aiming to quadruple U.S. nuclear output by 2050 and set up a Department of Energy pilot program that pushed several startups, including Oklo, Antares Nuclear, Valar Atomics and Aalo Atomics, to hit a "criticality" milestone by July 4 this year.
The backdrop is a projected surge in electricity demand. Global electricity use is projected to grow by more than 10,000 terawatt-hours by 2035, and IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has said nuclear is the only power source that can meet the combined needs of low-carbon generation, round-the-clock reliability and grid stability that data centers require, since unlike solar or wind, a data center can't power down at night.
Not everyone in the field agrees the technology can move fast enough. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has argued that nuclear power and small modular reactors will be unable to fill data centers' electricity needs, especially in the next several years when AI-related demand is expected to grow fastest, and that much of the current announcement cycle amounts to public-relations hype outpacing actual construction. Globally, only two new reactors entered commercial service through November of last year while seven were permanently shut down, underscoring how slow-moving nuclear buildout remains even as demand accelerates.
Arguments for:
Nuclear plants run constantly regardless of weather, which IAEA chief Rafael Grossi says makes them uniquely suited to data centers that can't power down at night the way a home or office can.
Big Tech has already put tens of billions of dollars behind the bet, including Meta's 6.6 gigawatt deal and Microsoft's agreement to revive Three Mile Island, suggesting private capital sees nuclear as commercially viable now rather than decades away.
Arguments against:
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists argues nuclear and small modular reactors won't be able to meet data centers' electricity needs in the timeframe that matters most, since AI-related demand is rising faster than new plants can be built.
Globally, only two reactors entered commercial service through last November while seven were permanently retired, a track record that skeptics say undercuts the industry's talk of a fast-moving "revival."
Construction costs and timelines for new reactors remain high and long even with streamlined federal approval processes, meaning near-term AI power demand will likely still be met mostly by gas and renewables regardless of nuclear announcements.
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#NuclearPower #AIEnergyDemand #CleanEnergy #DataCenters #EnergyPolicy
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