In an agreement unveiled Monday, the country’s biggest public utility would purchase electricity from a future advanced nuclear reactor to support Google data centers in Alabama and Tennessee.
According to the Tennessee Valley Authority, California-based Kairos Power, and Google, the deal will supply the federal utility grid that runs the data centers with up to 50 megawatts of energy.
The announcement comes at a time when tech companies, some of which have shown a particular interest in expanding nuclear production, anticipate needing a significant quantity of power to run data centers supporting artificial intelligence. In addition to signing executive orders in May to increase nuclear power, President Donald Trump this month unveiled a plan to create data centers and advance AI across the United States.
According to TVA, it is the first utility in the United States to execute a power purchase agreement to purchase electricity generated by a nuclear reactor of the next generation. It would be dependent on Oak Ridge, Tennessee’s Hermes 2 reactor, which is expected to start up in 2030.
According to the news release, the arrangement will enable future expansion in the area and power data centers in Jackson County, Alabama, and Montgomery County, Tennessee. Clean energy credits related to the facility will be given to Google.
According to a news release from Google’s global head of data center energy, Amanda Peterson Corio, “This partnership with TVA, Kairos Power, and the Oak Ridge community will expedite the deployment of innovative nuclear technologies and help support the needs of our growing digital economy while also bringing firm carbon-free energy to the electricity system.”
Under an agreement between Kairos Power and Google, Hermes 2 is the first reactor to produce 500 megawatts of new, cutting-edge nuclear power to assist meet the tech giant’s growing demand for electricity.
Fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor technology is used in the new type of nuclear reactor. Its coolant is molten salt. Hermes is another test version of the Oak Ridge plant that doesn’t generate energy.
In November, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a building permission for the Hermes 2 project. The facility still needs to submit an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an operating license, among other things.
Kairos Hermes 2 is one of several next-generation reactors that will use high-assay low-enriched uranium. The Department of Energy claims that because the fuel is more enriched than is typically used in large nuclear reactors, the newer reactors can operate more efficiently for longer periods of time, have smaller footprints, and generate less waste.
At the moment, not much of it is produced in the US. However, businesses, including those in Oak Ridge, are investing to increase production.
Ten million people in seven southern states are powered by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
