Google buys electricity for AI needs from the small modular nuclear reactor company Kairos

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Alphabet's Google said on Monday it had signed the world's first corporate agreement to buy power from multiple small modular reactors to meet power needs for artificial intelligence.

The technology company's agreement with Kairos Power aims to bring Kairos' first small modular reactor into operation by 2030, followed by further deployments by 2035.

The companies did not disclose the financial details of the agreement or where in the U.S. the plants would be built. Google said it agreed to buy a total of 500 megawatts of electricity from six to seven reactors, which is less than the output of today's nuclear reactors.

“We feel that nuclear power can play an important role in meeting our needs… in a way that is clean 24/7,” said Michael Terrell, senior director of energy and climate at Google , in a phone call with reporters.

Technology companies have signed several deals with nuclear energy companies this year as artificial intelligence boosts electricity demand for the first time in decades.

In March, Amazon.com purchased a nuclear-powered data center from Talen Energy. Last month, Microsoft and Constellation Energy signed a power deal to help revitalize a unit at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania, site of the worst nuclear accident in the United States in 1979.

Goldman Sachs estimated that U.S. data center power consumption would roughly triple between 2023 and 2030, requiring about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity, with natural gas, wind and solar power expected to fill the gap.

Kairos must obtain full construction and design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as approvals from local authorities, a process that could take years.

Late last year, Kairos received a construction permit from the NRC to build a demonstration reactor in Tennessee.

“The NRC stands ready to efficiently and appropriately review applications for new reactors,” said Scott Burnell, an NRC spokesman.

To reduce construction costs, small modular reactors will be smaller than today's reactors and the components will be built in a factory rather than on site.

Critics say SMRs will be expensive because they may not be able to achieve the economies of scale of larger facilities. In addition, they are likely to produce long-lasting nuclear waste for which the country does not yet have a final storage facility.

Google said that by agreeing to a so-called order book framework with Kairos, rather than buying one reactor at a time, it was sending a demand signal to the market and making a long-term investment to accelerate the development of SMRs.

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“We are confident that this novel approach will improve the prospects of our projects being delivered on budget and on time,” said Mike Laufer, CEO and co-founder of Kairos.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Editing by Bill Berkrot and David Gregorio)