Google Enters Nuclear Power with Kairos to Build Seven Small Reactors

Google Enters Nuclear Power with Kairos to Build Seven Small ReactorsOn November 15th, Google announced it will back the construction of seven small nuclear reactors across the US, marking the company's first foray into the nuclear power sector. The move aims to address Googles growing electricity demands, particularly for powering AI development, and contribute to a nuclear energy revival in the United States

Google Enters Nuclear Power with Kairos to Build Seven Small Reactors

On November 15th, Google announced it will back the construction of seven small nuclear reactors across the US, marking the company's first foray into the nuclear power sector. The move aims to address Googles growing electricity demands, particularly for powering AI development, and contribute to a nuclear energy revival in the United States. Google will partner with nuclear innovation company KairosPower and will purchase all the electricity generated by the seven reactors. The two companies expect to add 500 megawatts of nuclear capacity by 2030.

This partnership is significant as it lays the groundwork for the first commercial deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the US. Many see SMR technology as the future of the US nuclear industry, offering quicker and cheaper construction by building smaller reactors and avoiding the long lead times and hefty costs associated with conventional large-scale nuclear plants.

Our ultimate vision is to have a 24/7 carbon-free energy supply, said Michael Terrell, Googles senior director of energy and climate. We believe that achieving a 24/7 clean energy future requires a mix of technologies, including wind, solar, lithium-ion batteries, and nuclear.

In recent years, electricity demand in some parts of the US has grown for the first time, driven largely by the increasing data center needs of the AI sector, prompting tech companies to seek more energy supplies.

The Google-Kairos partnership addresses a long-standing question in the small reactor design space: Who would be willing to pay a premium for the first of these projects, and which company would commit to taking enough reactors to launch a production line at scale? The deal also validates the concept that building identical products in a factory setting should drive down costs.

Kairos plans to deliver the reactors around 2030-2035. The companies have signed a power purchase agreement that mirrors those used by corporations with wind and solar developers.

The companies havent yet decided on specific locations or whether they will be built concurrently. Google plans to build data centers near the Kairos reactors, but its still unclear whether the data centers will be directly powered by the nuclear plants or connected via the grid.

It's worth noting that Kairos's design uses molten fluoride salts as a coolant, rather than water like traditional reactors. According to the company, Googles project will include one 50-megawatt reactor, and the subsequent three power plants will each have two 75-megawatt reactors. In comparison, conventional nuclear power plants typically have reactors that generate around 1,000 megawatts.

Kairos is going through a complicated approval process with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), but the company has received a permit to build a demonstration reactor in Tennessee, which is expected to begin operating in 2027. Kairos has a manufacturing and development facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where its building test facilities. These facilities do not contain nuclear fuel, but they play a crucial role in building and operating full-scale nuclear facilities to test systems, components, and the entire supply chain.

Mike Laufer, CEO and co-founder of Kairos, said the demonstration project and the Albuquerque facilities are helping the company avoid the cost overruns common in the traditional nuclear industry.

Nuclear power plants generate nearly 20% of the electricity in the US, but new, large-scale nuclear projects have been nearly nonexistent due to high costs and lengthy construction times. Only this spring did Georgias Vogtle nuclear plant complete construction of the second of its two new reactors. Before that, the last new US nuclear reactors were built by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 2016 and 1996.

Since 2010, tech companies like Google have been signing power purchase agreements with renewable energy developers, helping to drive down costs for these technologies. Nuclear proponents argue that having steady customers could also eventually lower costs in the nuclear industry.

But analysts predict that the US will add more natural gas-fired power plants in the near term to meet the growing energy needs of data centers, emerging manufacturing, heavy industry, and transportation.

The Google-Kairos partnership marks not only Googles first foray into the nuclear sector but also a growing interest in nuclear energy by the tech industry, potentially driving a nuclear revival in the US. The success of this partnership could have a significant impact on the future of SMR technology and potentially reshape the US energy landscape.