Swedish datacenter operator wants to go nuclear
- Reference: 1678296615
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/03/08/bahnhof_smr_datacenter/
- Source link:
[1]Bahnhof , which apparently used to host WikiLeaks in one of its datacenters, is understood to be investigating the possibility of installing a small modular reactor (SMR) at a datacenter being built in Hjorthagen, a district of Sweden's capital.
According to a report in The Times newspaper, Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung said the reactor could also provide enough power for 30,000 households in the surrounding area, and could be ready to go online within just a couple of years if given the go-ahead.
[2]
Karlung told local TV news [3]SVT Nyheter that it might be considered "provocative" to want to build a nuclear power station in Stockholm, but claimed there are advantages to building small power plants where required.
[4]
[5]
Datacenters in Sweden currently consume 3 terawatt hours (TWh) a year, according to SVT Nyheter, and this is estimated to double to 6TWh within just a couple of years.
It isn't just Sweden where this approach is being considered. In the US, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently [6]finalized rules allowing construction of nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs), although not specifically for powering datacenters.
[7]
The Register last year reported that engineering company Rolls-Royce was [8]on the lookout for sites in the UK to deploy SMRs, as well as a location for a factory to build the new reactors.
[9]Uncle Sam greenlights first commercial nuclear small modular reactor design
[10]Nuclear-powered datacenter throws open doors to tenants this year
[11]Miniature nuclear reactors could be the answer to sustainable datacenter growth
[12]US regulators set the stage for small, local nuclear power stations
The UK government previously announced an [13]Advanced Nuclear Fund of up to £385 million as part of its 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution, up to £215 million of which is for SMRs, to develop domestic small-scale power plant technology.
A report published by analyst Omdia at the end of last year made the case for [14]using SMRs to power datacenters . It suggested the sweet spot for SMRs will likely be for facilities exceeding 100MW in capacity, although smaller datacenters could partner with local utilities and other power-hungry industrial sites to make it a viable option – as Bahnhof appears to be proposing.
SMRs are considerably smaller in scale than the large nuclear plants most people are familiar with, Omdia claimed, and pose far less risk.
However, the biggest challenge in getting these up and running will be "convincing people in industry and where these things are going to [be deployed], that it is safe, and viable, and environmentally friendly," one of the report authors commented.
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There could also be downsides to this kind of technology. Another report published last year suggested that mini nuclear reactors such as SMRs might generate [16]up to 35 times more waste to produce the same amount of power as a traditional nuclear plant. ®
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[1] https://bahnhof.se/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZAkTl1uonBNJrR4nfuIIZAAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/han-vill-bygga-karnkraft-i-centrala-stockholm
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZAkTl1uonBNJrR4nfuIIZAAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZAkTl1uonBNJrR4nfuIIZAAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/24/us_nuclear_reactor_approval/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZAkTl1uonBNJrR4nfuIIZAAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/24/rollsroyce_smr_factory/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/24/us_nuclear_reactor_approval/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/19/nuclear_powered_datacenter/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/smr_nuclear_datacenter/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/02/small_modular_nuclear_reactors_approved/
[13] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advanced-nuclear-technologies/advanced-nuclear-technologies
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/smr_nuclear_datacenter/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZAkTl1uonBNJrR4nfuIIZAAAAAc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/02/nuclear_reactors_waste/
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
And ...
...if your company goes bust, the up keep and decommissioning will fall to????
Re: And ...
...if your company goes bust, the up keep and decommissioning will fall to????
Probably whoever leased it to you. I somehow doubt that datacentre staff will be allowed to poke the reator. I worked with enough to know that's probably a bad idea. Plus one of the beauties about SMRs is they're small enough that the cores can be picked up and put on a truck, rail car, or barge. So all you'd need to do is shut it down, wait until it's cooled down enough to move and take it away to reuse, refurb or recycle.
Or you could just encouarge very large datacentres to be built by the coast. Like by international cable landing stations. One of which already occupies a picturesque chunk of Thorpness, which used to be a nuclear test site in the past. Ish. But potential to move stuff in & out by sea, easy access to cooling water, high capacity fibre connnectons and beaches to laze on whilst waiting for someone to answer your TAC call. Much nicer than sunbathing on the roof of Telehouse, and less likely to upset security guards.
Re: And ...
This is a big problem, but it doesn't mean the project is unfeasible.
I would set up something like this - companies that want to set up their own nuclear reactors have to pay a quota into a national decommissioning fund AND they have to pay for decommissioning when the reactor's lifetime expires. If a company that operates a nuclear reactor goes bust, then the national decommissioning fund takes over decommissioning, but it is considered by law a privileged creditor in the context of bankruptcy proceedings. Yes, this means that the company will find it slightly more difficult to obtain credit; if this is an unsurmountable problem, they probably are not solid enough to be allowed to operate a nuclear reactor.
The yearly quota that all nuclear-operating companies have to pay goes to cover the part of money that, inevitably, the fund won't be able to recoup from bankruptcies. If, and only if, the fund still runs out of money, then decommissioning is paid by the state - but, the following fiscal year, the quota gets increased.
If companies deem that this scheme makes the project economically unfeasible, it means that they were planning to dump decommissioning on the state anyway. In that case, I'm fine with them being unable to operate nuclear reactors.
Looking at similar plans in Finland and Estonia I have a feeling RR is missing the ship as they talk about American provider(s) and not that far into the future either.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Kodak had their own nuclear reactor and there’s been a few nuclear powered civilian/merchant ships. Not the worst idea out there.
SMR
Some folks here looked into these.
Believe that the idea of using a two-fluid MSR is also being floated.
The mechanism with these is using a liquid fluoride salt in a conventional reactor pin, with any gases evolved being vented under controlled
conditions. The outer salt which is the primary coolant is less harmful as it has no nuclear fuel within.
A somewhat more radical variant uses a modified liquid metal reactor with the fuel suspended within the liquid as tiny capsules
so that criticality only takes place within the highly optimized core that also has control and neutron reflective elements included.
Hybrid design that relies on very thin layers of moving metal driven by gravity, so if anything goes wrong they simply cut off or divert
the fuel flow around the core and it shuts off. Fully throttled and far safer due to minimum inventory of potentially dangerous actinides.
It could feasibly be adapted for space use as parts can be sent up by rocket, with far lower risk than sending up a conventional
fully stocked core if the empty re-entry proof Ir fuel capsules are reused between launches (hey there SpaceX)