Community Votes to Deny Water to Nuclear Weapons Data Center (404media.co)
- Reference: 0181963658
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/04/24/0549221/community-votes-to-deny-water-to-nuclear-weapons-data-center
- Source link: https://www.404media.co/community-votes-to-deny-water-to-nuclear-weapons-data-center/
> The proposed data center in the Ypsilanti Township's Hydro Park has been a sore spot for the community since its proposal. The $1.2 billion 220,000 square foot facility would be used by Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) some 1,500 miles away for nuclear weapons research. In February, UofM's Steven Ceccio told the University of Michigan Record that the facility would consume [4]500,000 gallons of water per day and that the University planned to buy it from the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority. (YCUA)
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> The YCUA has spent the past month lobbying for a moratorium on providing water and sewer access to hyperscale data centers and "artificial intelligence computing facilities," according to notes on a presentation stored on the [5]organization's website . The moratorium would include LANL's data center. The YCUA cited an American Water Works Association [6]white paper about data center water demands and concluded it needed more time to investigate the matter. "Hyper-scale data centers, as well as other mid-sized data centers, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and high-performance computational centers are 'high-impact customers' for water and sewer utilities," YCUA said in its presentation.
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> The moratorium places a 12-month stop on serving water to data centers while the YCUA conducts a long-term water supply analysis and looks into the environmental sustainability studies. "During the 12-month moratorium period, the Authority will refrain from executing any capacity reservation agreement." This is a delay tactic on the part of a Township that does not want to see the data center constructed. Many in the community have strong feelings about the use of parkland for a facility that researchers nuclear weapons. Beyond the moral and ethical concerns, some are worried about becoming targets in a war. Last month, Township attorney Douglas Winters told the Board of Trustees that building hosting the data center would make Ypsilanti Township a "high value target." He pointed to the recent bombing of Gulf Coast data centers by Iran as evidence.
[1] https://cms3.revize.com/revize/ypsilantiwater/Documents/About/Board%20of%20Commissioners/Agendas%20And%20Minutes/2026/2026-04-22%20Board%20Packet.pdf?t=202604171058310&t=202604171058310&ref=404media.co
[2] https://www.404media.co/community-votes-to-deny-water-to-nuclear-weapons-data-center/
[3] https://www.michigandaily.com/news/news-briefs/los-alamos-confirms-umich-data-center-to-be-used-for-nuclear-weapons-research/
[4] https://record.umich.edu/articles/a-closer-look-at-los-alamos-u-m-research-facility/?ref=404media.co
[5] https://cms3.revize.com/revize/ypsilantiwater/Documents/About/Board%20of%20Commissioners/Agendas%20And%20Minutes/2026/2026-04-22%20Board%20Packet.pdf?t=202604171058310&t=202604171058310&ref=404media.co
[6] https://www.awwa.org/cooling-the-cloud-water-utilities-in-a-data-driven-world/?ref=404media.co
liquid-immersion cooling with radiators (Score:4, Interesting)
That data center (and perhaps all large-scale data centers in populated areas than need fresh water for people) should use liquid-immersion cooling with radiators instead of evaporative cooling chillers.
Re: (Score:2)
Or make the data centers also install fitness centers and showers, and let people use the facilities and the nice hot water for free.
Re:liquid-immersion cooling with radiators (Score:5, Insightful)
Evaporative chillers are not necessary to cool a data center, certainly not in Michigan. We chill data centers in Arizona with no water usage at all. The data center designers / owners are just being cheap. Sure, if you can get the local municipality to give you water you can use that to lower your costs and increase your efficiency. But it's not necessary. All our data centers use 100% renewable power (if not available then we purchase credits), and we cool with air chillers, and despite these additional costs we're certainly not going bankrupt or being left with unsold capacity.
It's (as always) about the money. The fact that they are going ahead with the project anyway tells me that they will just switch to air chillers.
To directly respond to your comment (which is spot-on), a new facility being stood up for LANL is likely to be direct-to-chip liquid cooling. Generally we don't do full immersion because of the costs and complexity (a modern AI 52U rack is pushing 5000lbs now and fully immersing it will put additional structural strain on the slab floor), but the technology to distribute chilled water from the facility through CDUs (coolant distribution units) to manifolds in the racks and then directly to the chips needing to be cooled is finally getting mature.
Nice data center ya got there! (Score:3)
Shame if sump'n 'unexpected' was to happen to the water supply...
Re: (Score:2)
I think you have the power-dynamic all backwards.
Re: (Score:2)
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a federal research facility, not just a "buisiness." This effectively is a fight between two branches of government, one federal, the other municipal. The latter can hardly be cast as a mobster with the kind of clout the OP infers.
But who knows? David just might defeat Goliath. I'll make the popcorn.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Eh, these people are not nearly conservative enough to get away with something like that. Liberal messes with the water... eco terrorism that must be stopped at all costs! Conservative blows up a dam.. 'look at what those eco radical democrats have driven good patriotic americans to do!'
They're grasping. (Score:5, Insightful)
There isn't a shortage of water in Michigan.
And then we get this: " Last month, Township attorney Douglas Winters told the Board of Trustees that building hosting the data center would make Ypsilanti Township a "high value target." He pointed to the recent bombing of Gulf Coast data centers by Iran as evidence. "
They're grasping.
Re:They're grasping. (Score:5, Interesting)
> There isn't a shortage of water in Michigan.
>
> They're grasping.
Good.
These datacenters are driving up electricity and water prices by increasing demand, regardless of there is currently sufficient supply to meet that demand. A community may have enough generation capacity and treatment capacity today , but when tomorrow's development of X new homes happens, the capacity either comes from today's excess or from having to add more capacity... which costs.
Datacenters don't contribute to communities financially the way home or even factories do. There are virtually no jobs, and definitely no secondary jobs. They negotiate bulk purchasing discounts and tax breaks.
The quantity of datacenters is just going to go up, dramatically over time. We need to figure out how to make their owners pay for what they really consume where they're built before there's an order of magnitude more of them.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
> Datacenters don't contribute to communities financially the way home or even factories do.
Uh, private datacenters pay a WHOLE LOT OF TAXES relative to the load they place on the local schools, hospitals, police/fire/first responders and roadways.
In this very particular case, being a federal facility, the numbers are different, but your comment was more general than just this one facility...
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
> Uh, private datacenters pay a WHOLE LOT OF TAXES relative to the load they place on the local schools, hospitals, police/fire/first responders and roadways.
> In this very particular case, being a federal facility, the numbers are different, but your comment was more general than just this one facility...
They don't generate revenue, what is there to tax? In almost all cases big corporations get tax breaks. [1]https://ryan.com/about-ryan/ne... [ryan.com]
[1] https://ryan.com/about-ryan/news-and-insights/2025/michigan-data-center-equipment-sales-tax-exemption/
Re: (Score:1)
Workers? These places employ a skeleton crew to change out hardware when it breaks. I doubt the payroll exceeds a dozen.
Re: (Score:2)
> Workers? These places employ a skeleton crew to change out hardware when it breaks. I doubt the payroll exceeds a dozen.
Who said anything about "workers" being a significant contributor to the local economy?
Re: (Score:2)
> They don't generate revenue
Are you serious? Regarding Private Datacenters (Think AWS or Azure, etc.) They build a multi-million dollar building, stuff it full of tens of millions of dollars of equipment (servers), and they do all this as a non-profit entity? That's what you think?
Here's a thought - perhaps they spend tens of millions of dollars to generate hundreds of millions of dollars, and they then pay income taxes on the spread between those two numbers, less operating expenses (salaries, electricity, water, etc)
FFS, you really
Re: (Score:1)
> There isn't a shortage of water in Michigan.
> And then we get this: " Last month, Township attorney Douglas Winters told the Board of Trustees that building hosting the data center would make Ypsilanti Township a "high value target." He pointed to the recent bombing of Gulf Coast data centers by Iran as evidence. "
> They're grasping.
Exactly - [1]The Gulf Coast data centers that were bombed [apnews.com] were in the middle east - are they really concerned that Iran will attack the data center in Michigan? Or are they afraid it will be a target when Canada finally decided to bite the hand that feeds them and launch an all-out assault on the US?
They are grasping for reasons to oppose the datacenter.
Its a quarter million square feet facility, it really isn't that big - they are talking about a [2]facility in Utah that will have up to 2 million square feet of [ksl.com]
[1] https://apnews.com/article/amazon-aws-data-center-uae-iran-bahrain-71066b0a822c4cfd88b61e3fe79af917
[2] https://www.ksl.com/article/news/utah/science-and-tech/worlds-largest-data-center-campus-could-be-coming-to-central-utah/51355852
Re: (Score:2)
> when Canada finally decided to bite the hand that feeds them and launch an all-out assault on the US?
You really have no capacity for introspection. Gee, I can't understand why Canada is being economically hostile to the USA. Could it be threats of annexation and being called the 51st state? Oh he really didn't mean those things? Then why did he say them?
If Canada wanted to be shitty they would shut off the supply of potash. [1]https://www.rbc.com/en/thought... [rbc.com]
[1] https://www.rbc.com/en/thought-leadership/the-trade-zone/sowing-the-seeds-of-higher-prices/
Re: (Score:2)
[1]"Lighten-up Francis" [youtube.com]
I didn't ask why Canada is being economically hostile to America, I tried to understand how a datacenter in Michigan would become a high-value military target - who would invade the US and go after such a "high value" target? I speculated Canada because of it's proximity, but I guess you could add Mexico to the list, i don't know.
> Could it be threats of annexation and being called the 51st state? Oh he really didn't mean those things? Then why did he say them?
It's called humor? It's called "getting a rise out of your opponent" (when negotiating)...
As I recall, the angst between Canada and US recently started because
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN-aXzpQUdw
Re: (Score:2)
> Or are they afraid it will be a target when Canada finally decided to bite the hand that feeds them
The USA has a trade deficit with Canada. But if you exclude oil purchased from Canada, it becomes a trade surplus.
Fun fact: the USA imports more oil, by far, from Canada than from any other country. The USA is a net exporter of petroleum products, but a net importer of the heavy, sour crude its refineries are set up to process. The USA exports the light, sweet crude that most of its refineries can't process.
So, who is feeding whom?
Re: (Score:2)
> The USA is a net exporter of petroleum products, but a net importer of the heavy, sour crude its refineries are set up to process. The USA exports the light, sweet crude that most of its refineries can't process.
> So, who is feeding whom?
So what I see is we are a couple domestic refineries that can handle domestic light, sweet crude away from not needing to import heavy, sour crude from Canada...
Interesting. Why don't we build sufficient and proper refineries to refine all our domestic crude? Let Canada sell it's oil on the open market?
Re: (Score:2)
So the issue is we lack proper refineries to process our own domestic crude oil - if only there was a way to fix that...
Re:States Rights! (Score:2)
Oh hey we're not cheering for states rights on this one?
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, this isn't even a state. This is a municipal water district. This is more like "cities rights!"...which often *should* be cheered. And perhaps should be cheered this time.
OTOH, NIMBY is a real problem sometimes. We still don't have a place to put spent nuclear fuel.
Re: (Score:2)
NIMBY is a problem, but is also a right that should be respected.
If I don't want a hog farm next door, i should be able to take it to the city council. If I don't want a nuclear waste processing plant nearby I should be able to take it to the local council. Same with a nightclub or a datacenter or a dispensary or a refinery. People should have the right to have their desires for their community represented by their local elected officials.
Sometimes those decisions turn out to be wrong, but the right to s
Drinkable water (Score:2)
Data centers want drinkable water. It's Expensive to treat water and they need very pure water or it destroys their piping.
. The issue isn't how much water there is, it's how much is drinkable and who pays to make it so
Re: (Score:2)
It does seem like a convoluted way to say: "No."
The local community should be able to say N.I.M.B.Y. if they want to. It should not be so difficult that they have to find complicated excuses to delay. If the people do not want it, let the local city council vote NO and leave it at that. It should be acceptable to say "We don't want your business here" (as long as you are not specifically violating the rights of a protected class.)
Recent bombings? (Score:2)
> He pointed to the recent bombing of Gulf Coast data centers by Iran as evidence.
Ok...can anyone point to links of any sort of "Gulf Coast data center bombings"....at all much less linked to Iran?
Re: (Score:3)
Probably Persian Gulf
Re:Recent bombings? (Score:4, Informative)
Yes: [1]AWS data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were damaged in drone strikes last month. [cnbc.com]
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/07/aws-iran-threats-us-tech-data-centers.html
Re: (Score:3)
Oh...ok, I was assuming OUR Gulf.
I don't really give a fuck about those Middle East gulfs....they're getting bombed by someone all the time it seems....
Same bombs...different "hats" worn by the bombers.
Not especially newsworthy as that it's a common occurrence over there.
Re: (Score:2)
Well it's never happened before so that makes it pretty news worthy
Define "consume" (Score:2)
> In February, UofM's Steven Ceccio told the University of Michigan Record that the facility would consume 500,000 gallons of water per day
OK, what does that mean "consume" - if the facility takes in 500,000 gallons of water a day, how much is returned to the sewage system? None? Most of it?
Re: Define "consume" (Score:1)
Sad Libs: Oh no, X industry is emitting carbon and consuming water in my hometown. Me, a scientist: Matter is neither created nor destroyed, you clods.
Re: (Score:2)
> Sad Libs: Oh no, X industry is emitting carbon and consuming water in my hometown. Me, a scientist: Matter is neither created nor destroyed, you clods.
When a gallon of gasoline is combusted, feel free to remind folks that the mass has been conserved. It doesn't change the fact that there's now ~10 kg of CO2 in the atmosphere that wasn't there before. And it is correct to say the gasoline has been consumed - it's no longer there; you can't use it again. Gasoline is a reagent in the reaction - a chemist (a scientist!) will happily tell you that it's been consumed. If you want to burn more gasoline, you'll have to go pump more from the ground.
You may
Re: (Score:2)
I *think* his point is that the water it still water. Which is correct. It may be contaminated or otherwise have fewer uses. It will certainly be a lot hotter, and had BETTER be cooled before being placed back in circulation.
If it's being dumped in the sewer, that will cause many additional problems. Sewage treatment systems are not free.
Re: (Score:2)
> I *think* his point is that the water it still water. Which is correct. It may be contaminated or otherwise have fewer uses. It will certainly be a lot hotter, and had BETTER be cooled before being placed back in circulation.
>
> If it's being dumped in the sewer, that will cause many additional problems. Sewage treatment systems are not free.
In this case, "consumption" means turning it into water vapor via the cooling tower. So, yes, it's still water, but it's not in a form that is available to the municipal water district.
Re: (Score:3)
> OK, what does that mean "consume"
Usually it means what they draw from the pipes minus what is discharged. The "consumption" is mostly evaporation in cooling towers. It isn't destroyed; but it sure ain't drinking water anymore.
500,000 gallons of water is about 1.9e6 kg.
The heat of vaporization for water is 2257 kJ/kg.
Turning that much water to vapor therefore requires 4.3e12 J of energy.
Averaged over one day (86400 sec), that's ~50e6 J/s, or 50 MW.
The 50 MW of evaporation in the stacks is one component of cooling. A lot of non-e
fingers crossed (Score:1)
they'll sabotage the hell out of that dc
great, my city would like your city's jobs (Score:2)
Sounds like your city's economy is just too good and it's too easy to make money.
That's fine because our city could really use the funds.
Open Loop cooling? (Score:2)
Why are they not using closed loop cooling? Seems like a waste.
Re: (Score:2)
Why are they not locating this DC in Shivering Moose, Montana?
Re: (Score:2)
If you've got access to plenty of water, closed loop cooling is much more expensive.
Their town, their choice (Score:2)
The "Nuclear Weapons Data Center" part is a bit gratuitous. But overall the voters of each town/county get to decide what they want built/not built. If they feel "juice is not worth the squeeze" on this deal, then it's fine. Not enough jobs, too much water usage, too much traffic not enough tax revenue, etc then Lawrence Livermore will have to improve their offer or find somewhere else. Does Ypsilanti get tagged as a bunch of YIMBY's now? Or is it that you can only be name-called a NIBMY for ce
Excess supply of water (Score:1)
So the utility actually has way more capacity than it can actually sell to their customers right now. The water utility currently has an excess supply of 8 million to 10 million gallons per day. I wonder what the extra money could do for the community?
Meanwhile, in Corpus Cristi TX (Score:2)
Council members continue voting for giving the petrochem industry sacrifice zones and unlimited water during a deep drought, overcharging residential users much higher rates and demanding conservation, and leap to borrowing huge sums of money to propose a desalination plant.
Re: (Score:2)
s/Cristi/Christi/
Re:Iran (Score:4, Insightful)
> When they want nuclear weapons we start a war with them, but the US can have them, no problem.
Err...yep.
Were you trying to go somewhere with this keemosabie?
Re: (Score:2)
Unlikely. While this has been used as a rallying cry for why we need to destroy iran for decades, it doesn't really match their operational patterns or objectives. It DOES meet the US and Israel's though.
Re: Iran (Score:1)
If they got a Metal Gear, they can
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah it does (and is honestly) hypocritical but this is one of those areas where we're just in reality and the world that exists is one where a few countries have nukes and that was destabilizing enough but more countries having more nukes is not good for everyone, like, on the planet. But you also can't just Superman IV and take all the nukes already so here we are trying to balance all that.
I would garner most of the countries on the planet Earth are uncomfortable with the idea of the Iranian regime manu
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd argue that nukes have a stabilising effect, because it creates a very strong disincentive for a major conflict between nuclear powers. India/Pakistan without nukes would have been more likely to have an all-out war.