Google adopts small nuclear power reactors at unprecedented scale — inks deal for seven reactors to feed AI data centers

Nuclear power plant
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Google just signed a deal with nuclear power startup Kairos Power to buy carbon-free electricity, with a 2030 initial delivery target and full deployment by 2035. According to Google’s blog ‘The Keyword’, the tech giant aims to deliver 500MW of “new 24.7 carbon-free power” to the U.S. power grid.

This move will likely support Google’s push for AI supremacy, especially as data center deployments are already being limited by power availability. The White House has taken notice of this power deficit and has undertaken talks with tech companies about the scale of their power demands. It seems that these talks have borne fruit, especially as Google isn’t the first one to push for small modular reactors as a data center power source.

It’s unclear how Google and Kairos set up the deal — whether the former is providing direct funding or if it just promised to buy the power that the latter generates when its reactors are up and running. Nevertheless, Kairos has already passed several milestones, making it one of the more promising startups in the field of nuclear energy.

Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

  • hotaru251
    Should just have rules that if you as a company use an extreme amount of power you should be required to pay for a nuclear reactor that can generate at least 3/4 of the energy you require to take most of the strain off of the grid that normal citizens require.
    & then after yrs of having no issues and nuclear gets rid of its stigma we can just ditch coal and go nuclear and never have power grid issues again.
    Reply
  • kjfatl
    There is a good chance that Google and Microsoft will be forming divisions that sell energy. Don't be surprised if big-tech buys big-oil. You will be able to bundle Internet, Electricity and Cell-phone for one low monthly price.
    Reply
  • Kondamin
    2030 and 2035 are far to long away
    Reply