Earlier this year, Meta took the easy way out by building a nuclear data center next to an existing reactor. But after regulators put a damper on that plan (the site is reportedly home to rare honeybees), the company came back with a new idea. The idea was to find a developer to build one or more nuclear power plants somewhere.
Meta yesterday announced a request for proposals from nuclear power developers who would help the company add 1 to 4 gigawatts of power generation capacity in the U.S. According to Axios, Meta announced early in the cycle that Meta would The company is prepared to bear the burden and is also committed to purchasing electricity. Once the nuclear reactor is operational.
What's the problem? Applicants must act quickly. The first proposal is expected to be submitted on February 7, 2025, and Meta hopes to start operating the power plant in the early 2030s.
Aside from the tight schedule, Mehta plans to be flexible. The new power plant will be a priority data center insofar as it makes power available to support the growing needs of the grid that powers both of our data centers (the physical infrastructure on which Meta's platform runs). ') and the surrounding community,'' the company said in a press release.
This stance could help circumvent the meta-regulator's view that data center power demands must be balanced against existing demand and overall grid stability. Planned Amazon data centers, for example, stumbled when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission refused to expand existing data center power contracts, concerned about the potential for brownouts and power outages for other customers.
Conventional nuclear power plants being built today are often rated at around 1 gigawatt, so just one would be enough to meet Meta's even lowest ambitions. However, these designs have proven costly and time-consuming to construct. Small modular reactors (SMRs) hold promise to reduce costs through modularization and mass production, but these claims remain untested at commercial scale.
But that uncertainty hasn't slowed tech companies' momentum. Microsoft hopes to restart the Three Mile Island reactor by 2028. Google is betting that SMR technology will help it meet its AI and sustainability goals, signing a 500-megawatt power contract with startup Kairos Power. Amazon has doubled down on SMR startup X-Energy, investing in the company and signing two development deals for approximately 300 MW of power generation capacity.
The flurry of activity over the past few months suggests that nuclear power will make a comeback within the next decade, at least if technology companies can keep their promises. The increased interest is reminiscent of tech companies' early support for renewable power developers, which Mehta noted in the announcement: “We are working creatively with developers to “We hope to build an agreement that will enable the development of nuclear technology as well,” the company said.
Still, a lot depends on timing. Renewable power and batteries continue to become cheaper, and several fusion power startups are pledging to have their first commercial-scale reactors online in the early 2030s. Given the expected demand, there should be plenty of room for winners to enter, but that doesn't mean all competitors will succeed.