Meta Flirts With Nuclear for AI. It's Still Married to Gas.
Big Tech has the deep pockets to fund new reactors but is short on time.
New nuclear is needed quick.
Photographer: Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg
The gathering excitement about new nuclear plants powering artificial intelligence is tainted by a whiff of gas.
Meta Platforms Inc. has just announced it will issue a formal request for proposals from developers to build between one and four gigawatts of new nuclear capacity to help meet its growing demand for energy to run data centers. This is potentially significant. To date, Big Tech’s deals for nuclear power have centered mainly on taking electricity from existing plants or reviving a recently closed reactor. Yet such arrangements are inherently limited, especially after federal utility regulators ruled against Amazon.com Inc.’s deal for a nuclear-powered, co-located data center.