Bill Gates' TerraPower Signs Agreement For Nuclear To Power Data Centers 17
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: TerraPower, a nuclear energy startup founded by Bill Gates, struck a deal this week with one of the largest data center developers in the US to deploy advanced nuclear reactors. TerraPower and Sabey Data Centers (SDC) are working together on a plan to run existing and future facilities on nuclear energy from small reactors. A memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies establishes a "strategic collaboration" that'll initially look into the potential for new nuclear power plants in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region that would power SDC's data centers. [...]
There's still a long road ahead before that can become a reality. The technology TerraPower and similar nuclear energy startups are developing still have to make it through regulatory hurdles and prove that they can be commercially viable. Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, the next generation of reactors are supposed to be smaller and easier to site. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that are causing climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates concerned about the impact of uranium mining and storing radioactive waste near communities. TerraPower's reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is the only advanced technology of its kind with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the company. The company just broke ground on a demonstration project in Wyoming last year, and expects it to come online in 2030.
There's still a long road ahead before that can become a reality. The technology TerraPower and similar nuclear energy startups are developing still have to make it through regulatory hurdles and prove that they can be commercially viable. Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, the next generation of reactors are supposed to be smaller and easier to site. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that are causing climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates concerned about the impact of uranium mining and storing radioactive waste near communities. TerraPower's reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is the only advanced technology of its kind with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the company. The company just broke ground on a demonstration project in Wyoming last year, and expects it to come online in 2030.
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The fine article did say that a Natrium reactor is under construction.
Been there done that (Score:3)
Only it didn't work out so well because natrium/sodium isn't such a nice chemical component.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Not "an agreement" (Score:2)
A "memorandum of understanding" is not an agreement, it is a statement of future intentions, that carries no financial or other obligations to do anything more than talk about concepts of plans.
It can be ignored or rescinded at will with no consequences by either party.
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A "memorandum of understanding" might not be anything legally binding but it must mean something to someone or they would not be showing up as PR announcements on company websites.
This could be some kind of negotiating tactic, and/or some means to attract investment. Before being sworn in as POTUS there was a promise from Trump that large infrastructure projects would get preferential treatment on getting federal permits, or something like that. I don't remember the exact wording but Trump has expressed i
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Well, M$ is a large IT infrastructure provider, and with Altman-GPT trying to emancipate itself from M$ with the "Stargate" project, the reason for the announcement is kinda transparent. Especially given the orange background of the Altman-GPT press event.
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Azure is already targeting 100% renewable in 2025. There's no way to get these reactors online before 2026 so why even bother ? Unless they don't think they can hit the target.
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A "memorandum of understanding" might not be anything legally binding but it must mean something to someone or they would not be showing up as PR announcements on company websites.
It means they wanted PR at least.Vaporware.
Natrium has its critics (Score:2)
The Natrium reactor from TerraPower uses sodium for coolant and a molten salt for thermal energy storage and for transfer of that heat to boilers or turbines. Sodium is known for being a very reactive element, and salts can be potent oxidizers. Both of these materials will be in close proximity in a heat exchanger. If a leak develops then there could be a fire. Because the salt is the oxidizer the typical measures to prevent a sodium fire will not work, such as filling the containment structure with an
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The Natrium reactor from TerraPower uses sodium for coolant and a molten salt for thermal energy storage and for transfer of that heat to boilers or turbines. Sodium is known for being a very reactive element, and salts can be potent oxidizers.
Technically nitrates and chlorates are salts, so I suppose you can say that some salts are oxidizers, but in general, no, salts are not oxidizers, and the salts used for thermal storage most assuredly are not.
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Technically nitrates and chlorates are salts, so I suppose you can say that some salts are oxidizers, but in general, no, salts are not oxidizers, and the salts used for thermal storage most assuredly are not.
https://www.powermag.com/kemme... [powermag.com]
Kemmerer 1 will be a hybrid nuclear facility integrating an 840 MWth pool-type Natrium SFR reactor with a nitrate molten salt-based energy storage system.
That's from June 2024 so maybe TerraPower changed their minds since on the salts they intend to use. If I'm reading that right that's what TerraPower submitted to the NRC as their design for a construction permit.
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with a nitrate molten salt-based energy storage system.
I'd love to hear the reason for using nitrates rather than good ole' NaCl.
Because that seems kinda nuts to me.
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I have no idea what type of reactor they're using, and there are huge gaps in my knowledge of nuclear physics besides.
But it does seem this latest push for micro-reactors is ass-backwards in a fundamental way that technology can't fix. From a safety perspective, you would want the most failsafe reactors possible, in the stablest possible geographical location, even if that's far away from population centers - which it typically is. For these tiny reactors the goal seems to be building them to a price, and p
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"I have no idea what type of reactor they're using, and there are huge gaps in my knowledge of nuclear physics besides."
And yet there you go blathering on anyway.
The Japanese figured that out a long time ago (Score:2)
With their Monju reactor.
The only thing that they didn't have was venture capital investments.
Maybe that will make it work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Will Trump end NRC rein? (Score:2)
Apparently US industry has never built a nuclear plant approved by the NRC, because NCR hasnt approved anything since 1975.
Hopefully Trump will kill or at least reform United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) so it no longer blocks new deployments.