Google has struck a deal with Kairos Power to use small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to deliver low-carbon electricity to energy-hungry data centers. about this writes Publication of the Financial Times (FT).
According to the FT report, the company has ordered SMR with a total capacity of 500 MW, which will enable the first commercial reactor to be operational by 2030 and additional reactors by 2035.
The deal marks Google’s “milestone in our 15-year journey toward clean energy,” said Michael Terrell, the company’s senior director of energy and climate. He also noted that SMR reactors offer a simplified, inherently safe design, faster construction and site flexibility compared to large-scale nuclear power plants.
Kairos, headquartered in Alameda, California, has developed a reactor that is cooled not by water but by molten fluoride salt. In December, the company received approval to build a 50-megawatt demonstration reactor called Hermes in Tennessee. This was the first approval for the construction of a new type of reactor in the United States in the last half century.
The Google-Kairos deal is the first in which a technology company helped bring a nuclear power plant into operation. Both companies declined to comment on the cost of the deal or whether Google will finance construction of the SMR reactors upfront or pay for electricity after they are built.
Previously at Rostelecom accepted Blocking all Google services in Russia.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Jackson Ruhl is a tech and sci-fi expert, who writes for “Social Bites”. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of technology and science fiction.