Walmart's First Nuclear Deal Shows Demand Beyond AI Data Centers (msn.com)
- Reference: 0184068932
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/06/24/175214/walmarts-first-nuclear-deal-shows-demand-beyond-ai-data-centers
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/ar-AA26n1U3
> Walmart is signing a long-term contract to buy nuclear power for the first time ever, a promising sign that the industry's future is [1]supported by more than just the AI data center boom . The retail giant [2]agreed on Tuesday to buy power from a nuclear plant in Illinois owned by Constellation Energy for its operations in the area, including its stores and a high-tech warehouse in Illinois that stores and sorts perishable food.
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> Walmart will buy 176 megawatts of power from the plant over a 15-year period, or enough power to serve around 150,000 homes. The Walmart deal will allow Constellation to expand the capacity of the Illinois plant by 30 megawatts, a process known as an uprate, which can involve replacing older equipment and improving efficiency. Walmart, which has pledged to eliminate net carbon emissions from its U.S. operations by 2040, will also receive the environmental attributes associated with the nuclear energy, which generates electricity without carbon emissions.
Further reading: [3]Trump Admin Announces $17.5 Billion In Loans For 10 New Large Nuclear Reactors
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/ar-AA26n1U3
[2] https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2026/06/23/constellation-and-walmart-announce-longterm-agreement-to-support-reliable-emissionsfree-nuclear-energy-in-illinois
[3] https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/06/24/0639241/trump-admin-announces-175-billion-in-loans-for-10-new-large-nuclear-reactors
Separation of concerns, mofo! (Score:2)
Wal-Mart shouldn't know or care what power plant or fuel their electricity comes from. And it's seriously bad new when the incentives are such that economic superpowers remove themselves from the common infrastructure.
Re: (Score:2)
Why not? If they can get a better deal using one provider or source than another, why not take it? Or do you want them to just spend their money like a drunk sailor like most Americans do?
Not quite immaculate conception (Score:2)
"which generates electricity without carbon emissions"
Ehh... Until they do resource extraction for uranium without fossil fuels, that's not quite true.
Still better than coal and natural gas fired plants, although all three generation types still require steam turbines.
Speaking of open vs. closed loop systems... how much water does a power plant (nuclear, coal, or otherwise) consume vs. a data center, during normal operation?
Re: (Score:3)
I expect plant construction (especially lots of concrete) is a much bigger emission concern than mining the fuel (a little fuel goes a long way, although it takes a fair amount of mining and refining to get that little bit of fuel). The further down the stack you go, NOTHING is absolutely carbon-neutral (solar and wind construction require raw materials too, as does all distribution no matter the generation source), but it's a matter of scale vs. return.
At this point, it's not clear that the construction em
Re: (Score:2)
1.21 gigaliters
Re: (Score:2)
0.176 jigawatts is no laughing matter.
eliminate net carbon (Score:2)
eliminate net carbon emissions from its U.S. operations by 2040....so they will just do all the "dirty stufff" across the border ?
Wehn promises are very specific is just means they will be gaming the system
Please use real units (Score:2)
> "Walmart will buy 176 megawatts of power from the plant over a 15-year period"
That is not a measurement of power. It is an instantaneous level. Did they mean 176 megawatt hours over 15 years? If so, that is only 32kWh per day which doesn't seem like that much.
Or did they mean a full 176 megawatts CONTINUOUSLY over 15 years? That would be 4 GWh per day, now that is a lot of power.
I can't wait! (Score:2)
I can't wait to buy a SMR off-the-shelf at my local Walmart! I'm sure they will use their usual cost management techniques to get high quality products at low low Walmart prices...
What? That's not what they are doing? Oh well.
2-for-one SMRs on asle twelve with coupon! (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly! They are rolling back prices to three mile island! :-) In other news I remember once visiting a Wal Mart datacenter in Arkansas. Bruh..... Holy shit was it bad. They had regular PCs like fucking eMachines stacked on these plywood shelves that someone had hand built (like... with nails). So, not a server in sight. It also wasn't a datacenter. It was an old office space they'd just stripped the ceiling tiles out of and let the HVAC treat the whole space as the plenum. Some of the tiles were still there and they'd just knocked holes through them for network cables that were strung over/using the old supports for the false ceiling. I'm surprised the place didn't have it's own barn cats.