Amazon Joins Push For Nuclear Power To Meet Data Center Demand (reuters.com)
- Reference: 0175265039
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/10/16/144210/amazon-joins-push-for-nuclear-power-to-meet-data-center-demand
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazoncom-joins-push-nuclear-power-meet-data-center-demand-2024-10-16/
> Amazon said it will fund a feasibility study for an SMR project near a Northwest Energy site in Washington state. The SMR is planned to be developed by X-Energy. Financial details were not disclosed. Under the agreement, Amazon will have the right to purchase electricity from four modules. Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will have the option to add up to eight 80 MW modules, resulting in a total capacity up to 960 MWs, or enough to power the equivalent of more than 770,000 U.S. homes. The additional power would be available to Amazon and utilities to power homes and businesses. "Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies that will generate energy for decades to come," said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services. SMRs will have their components built in a factory to reduce construction costs. [...]
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> Amazon said it is also leading a funding round for $500 million to support X-Energy's development of SMRs. Amazon and X-Energy aim to bring more than 5 gigawatts online in the United States by 2039, which the companies call the largest commercial deployment target of SMRs yet. Amazon also signed an agreement with Dominion Energy, opens new tab to explore the development of an SMR project near the utility's existing power station in Virginia. The about 300 megawatt project would help meet power needs in a region where demand is expected to jump 85% in 15 years, Dominion said.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazoncom-joins-push-nuclear-power-meet-data-center-demand-2024-10-16/
[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/07/1627216/big-tech-has-cozied-up-to-nuclear-energy
Tech people with nuclear reactors (Score:2)
This is someplace I'd prefer old conservative engineering and not a move-fast tech-person approach.
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"Well that reactor melted down. Write off the loss and let's move on to the next idea!"
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You mean we can't just reboot it?
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The chances are pretty good that the AI bubble will burst, or someone will find a more efficient way to do it, or both, before any SMRs even reach prototype stage.
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Old and conservative is the opposite of brute force, or, as known today, "artificial intelligence"
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I think there is enough regulation that they will have to resort to good old (but modern) engineering. I am more concerned by what they will run on while the power plants are being built and what happens when the AI bubble bursts.
I am afraid that nuclear is being used as a carbon-free promise that they won't keep anyway.
So much for conservation (Score:2)
I like how we've been pushed to green energy sources, closing nuke and coal plants, etc just in time for these massive data centers and bitcoin mines to suck up all of the savings.
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You are equating transitioning to green energy with closing nuclear plants, which doesn't follow. Nuclear is sustainable / green. It's just expensive.
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Green apologia just keeps repeating itself, regardless of how much the lie is debunked.
1. Closure of nukes is one of the primary Green goals. In many cases, it's THE cause around which the Green movement started (example: Germany). As a result there are no causes more anti-nuclear power than Green.
2. Nuclear is the cheapest power source we have. The problem is bureaucracy that came in the wake of Green activism, goal of which was making it impossibly expensive to build. This is why power plants built in les
Why SMRs (Score:2)
A datacenter with a >200MW base load seems to make a better anchor customer of a standard reactor. Are these just [neon]greenwashing investments?
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Nuclear power is the rare issue where I pretty much hate both sides equally.
The 1980's called (Score:2)
> Crap that's taking over the world, enjoy the decline.
They want their expert systems back.
AI is on par with fusion. It'll be great when it finally gets here. Whenever that is. In the meantime, startup ventures have perfected the art of squeezing funds out of suck- .. investors to keep their latest fad alive.
No thanks. I don't need to be in on the ground floor. I'll wait until the technology matures. That would be an "AI engine" that consumes roughly 20 Watts, not megawatts.