AI training is consuming so much power — more than the current electricity grid can provide — that Meta is now actively looking for proposals from nuclear developers to build nuclear power plants for its AI dreams. According to the social media giant’s Sustainability blog, it’s releasing a request for proposals to find nuclear energy developers that will help it get 1 to 4 gigawatts of new generation capacity. The company also said that it’s “taking an open approach” to “partner with others across the industry” to increase the grid’s capacity using nuclear energy.
Meta says that any potential partner must have development opportunities in building small modular reactors (SMRs) or even larger nuclear reactors. They must also have strong community engagement as well as expertise in developing, applying for permits, and executing projects. Through this call for proposals, the company hopes to identify potential partners that will help it get nuclear power sooner and that can scale their output (i.e., deploy multiple units of SMRs) to make nuclear power cheaper.
While the company says that it’s looking for a partner in its nuclear energy project, it also said that the chosen firm must “ultimately permit, design, engineer, finance, construct, and operate these power plants” as it wants an organization that has is fully invested in nuclear technology. This means that Meta is likely not looking to out a significant amount of money to build a power plant — instead, it wants to sign a contract with its chosen provider saying that it will buy a specific amount of power generated at a fixed price.
In other words, Meta is jumping on the nuclear power bandwagon to find the power that it needs to train its AI. Mark Zuckerberg himself said that power will constrain AI growth, and other tech giants have already begun working on nuclear energy sources to supplement their electricity needs. This includes Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle. Even Westinghouse, which has traditionally been one of the builders of large nuclear plants around the U.S., is working on a microreactor as a means of deploying nuclear energy faster to where it's needed.
The aforementioned companies already inked deals for their nuclear ambitions in 2024, while Meta has set its proposal deadline for Feb. 7, 2025. It might seem that the social media giant is late to the party, but given that it takes years before a nuclear reactor can start operating, it’s probably not off by much. Nevertheless, the fact that Meta is looking to obtain nuclear power sooner means that it recognizes the importance of being among the first to deploy this source of energy for powering future generations of AI models.
