Nuclear Developer Proposes Using Navy Reactors For Data Centers
- Reference: 0180452009
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/12/24/1920243/nuclear-developer-proposes-using-navy-reactors-for-data-centers
- Source link:
> A Texas power developer is [1]proposing to repurpose nuclear reactors from Navy warships to power the United States grid as the Trump administration pushes to secure massive amounts of energy for the artificial intelligence boom. HGP Intelligent Energy LLC filed an application to the Energy Department to redirect two retired reactors to a data center project proposed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, according to a letter submitted to the agency's Office of Energy Dominance Financing. The project, filed for the White House's Genesis Mission, would produce about 450-520 megawatts of around-the-clock electricity, or enough to power roughly 360,000 homes.
The proposal would rewire reactors from naval vessels, originally built by Westinghouse Electric Company and General Electric, at a fraction of the cost of new builds.
According to the report, The developer expects to seek a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy and raise roughly $1.8-$2.1 billion in private capital to prepare the reactors for civilian use, targeting initial completion by 2029. The approach is technically feasible but would break new ground by adapting military nuclear assets for the commercial grid. Bloomberg [2]first reported the story.
[1] https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/developer-proposes-navy-reactors-for-data-centres
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-24/nuclear-developer-proposes-using-navy-reactors-for-data-centers
but they are out of stock of T-437 safety command (Score:3)
but they are out of stock of T-437 safety command consoles
Naval reactors are safe, right? (Score:2)
[1]https://x.com/MikeyDiMercurio/... [x.com]
[1] https://x.com/MikeyDiMercurio/status/2003150002848182756
Re: (Score:2)
They are also a big contributor to non-proliferation, needing no highly enriched uranium and stuff.
I have a better and more realistic proposal (Score:2)
Electricity rationing for the masses to make more juice available to the data center.
Let's see which will come around first.
Re: I have a better and more realistic proposal (Score:1)
Better, I suppose, than rationing to please Gaia or the tree spirits or whatever horseshit the environmentalists are pushing at any given time.
Re: I have a better and more realistic proposal (Score:4, Interesting)
Except that resource misallocation due to the "AI" horseshit is real and already harmful, while the "oogabooga bad environmentalist" horseshit story of the right-wing nut jobs are a fantasy, akin to their other fantasies of "the white man is replaced", "the christian is persecuted" and "my gun collection is here to defend the fredumbz".
Why not weapons grade U-235 in civilian reactors? (Score:2)
I can't read those linked articles, so I don't know if it's covered in there
AFAIK, Navy reactors use uranium enriched to 93-97% U-235.
That's weapons grade uranium. Unless they plan to run on somewhtat less enriched uranium than the navy uses, it's not going to happen.
Re: Why not weapons grade U-235 in civilian reacto (Score:2)
I can't decide, have you uncovered a fatal flaw in this proposal, or are you just wrong? Your failure to even read the source document sorta makes me think it's the latter...
Containment and Backup Cooling (Score:2)
I would be surprised if the reactor itself represents more than 10% of the cost of construction; there is a whole lot more to making this work (especially with highly enriched uranium).
That's a no from me dawg (Score:2)
The developer plans to file for a loan guarantee from the Energy Department, according to the letter. The project would require about US$1.8 billion to US$2.1 billion of private capital to build related infrastructure to prepare the reactors for general use, according to the proposal submitted to the DOE and seen by Bloomberg News. The first phase could be completed as soon as 2029, according to the proposal.
Look, I like a good government subsidy and nuclear power and have long advocated for that fusion in
Re: greenwashing it with powered homes numbers (Score:1)
I saw a different movie where the robots don't revolt. In lieu of reality, let's go with mine.
Re: greenwashing it with powered homes numbers (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure that's how the current AI CEOs view the general public already