Google Gives New Nuclear Power What It Needs — Time
The Kairos deal encourages the construction of brand new reactors and, potentially, seeds a whole new industry.
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Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North AmericaNuclear power developers need those rarest of creatures: rich folks prepared to wait. That goes double for the more exotic niche of small modular reactors, or SMRs. Now one developer, Kairos Power LLC, appears to have landed a patient whale in the form of Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Kairos, based in Alameda, California, announced late Monday it had signed an agreement with its near neighbor under which it would develop and build several SMRs, with Google buying the output beginning in 2030 and reaching full capacity of 500 megawatts in 2035. Kairos received a permit last December from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop a pilot project in Tennessee to demonstrate its molten-salt technology, which may offer safety advantages compared to traditional water-cooled reactors. The Department of Energy is backing the effort with a $303 million grant.