- Google seems to fuel maternity needs with nuclear energy
- Tennessee appears as a hub for bold nuclear experimentation
- Datacentre drives demand for pure power and nuclear investigation
Google has partnered with Kairos Power and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to support the development of a small modular nuclear reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to run its infrastucture expansion.
The company announced that the Hermes 2 plant is expected to start operations by 2030 and generates up to 50 megawatt electricity for the TVA network.
This will help operate Google’s data centers in Tennessee and Alabama, which are central to the company’s growing need for them such as cloud hosting, sky storage and AI tools.
Partnership Model to Advanced Nuclear Power
The event takes the form of a power purchase agreement where TVA will buy electricity from Kairo’s power and supply the pure energy properties to Google.
The partners describe this as the first purchase of electricity from a generation IV reactor of an American tool.
While the project only provides a fraction of the 500 megawatts that Google has outlined as a longer term target, it is framed as a concept of concept of how utilities, technology companies and developers can share costs and risks in future implementations.
Unlike sun and wind that depends on the weather conditions, nuclear power can provide continuous energy.
“Nuclear is the cornerstone of the future of energy security. Google steps in and helps to carry the burden on the cost and risk of first -class nuclear projects … It’s not just good for Google. It’s good for Tvas 10 million customers. That’s good for the US,” said Don Moul, CEO of TVA.
However, nuclear construction has historically faced delays and costs and raises questions about whether this new generation of reactors will really deliver affordable and reliable power in scale.
The project is also presented as a way of increasing economic activity in Oak Ridge, a city that has long been bound to nuclear research and development.
Educational programs with the University of Tennessee and other local institutions are planned to prepare workers for technical roles at the Hermes 2 facility.
While the initiative promises high-paying jobs and renewed investments, critics may ask if addiction to experimental nuclear design is the most effective strategy compared to the expansion of proven sustained generation.
Nevertheless, this development has attracted interest and comments from industry experts, government agencies and politicians.
“To drive the future, we need to grow the availability of smart, fixed energy sources … This collaboration with TVA, Cairo’s Power and Oak Ridge society will accelerate the implementation of innovative nuclear technologies.” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s global leader of data center energy.
“This collaboration is an important opportunity to make advanced core energy commercially competitive,” said Mike Laufer, Kairo’s Power CEO and co -founder.
“Tennessee’s heritage of nuclear innovation positions the volunteer state to lead America’s energy tomatia and drive continued economic growth with safe, pure and reliable nuclear energy,” said Governor Bill Lee.
