Here's Why AI Companies Are Looking To The Nuclear Option

Forbes

Developers of new types of small nuclear reactors and battery chemistries are honing plans to profit by targeting data centers, which need more and more energy to fuel the AI boom.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2024/06/10/desperate-for-power-ai-companies-look-to-the-nuclear-option/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, desperate for power, AI companies look to the nuclear option.

00:08For all the hype and billions of dollars swirling around AI, the only certainty is the grid-depleting

00:13amount of additional electricity needed to power the data centers running the AI itself.

00:20And in that, Clayton Scott sees a massive business opportunity.

00:25Scott, chief commercial officer for NuScale Power, which is commercializing small-scale

00:29nuclear systems, told Forbes, quote,

00:40A Goldman Sachs report, which sees AI applications triggering a 160% jump in overall data center

00:47power needs, estimated that chat GPT queries need nearly 10 times as much electricity as

00:53Google searches.

00:54Pair that with the reality that the U.S. grid is at or near peak capacity relying on existing

01:00fossil fuel plants, with a backlog of wind and solar renewable energy projects waiting

01:05to be connected to the grid in an effort to slash carbon emissions.

01:08And you've got the recipe for an energy crisis.

01:12Scott hopes that NuScale Power provides one answer for data centers and their AI customers.

01:17Each of its small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs, can generate 77 carbon-free megawatts

01:24continuously.

01:26That could allow them to operate independently of the grid entirely.

01:30The Portland-based startup, which went public in 2022 after over a decade of R&D, is working

01:36with data center developer Standard Power to supply 24 SMRs capable of collectively

01:42generating nearly 2 gigawatts of electricity, enough for a mid-sized city.

01:47Currently, it's navigating the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's lengthy review process and doesn't

01:51expect to deploy reactors until late this decade.

01:55The company reported just $4.6 million in revenue in the first quarter and a loss of

01:59$56.4 million as it prepares for commercial deliveries.

02:05NuScale is one of many nuclear and battery startups aiming to capitalize on AI's energy

02:10intensity.

02:11Typical data centers use about 32 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 6,000 homes,

02:17compared with about 80 megawatts for AI-oriented data centers.

02:22This according to Doug Vine, director of analysis at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions,

02:27an environmental policy think tank in Arlington, Virginia.

02:31He said, quote,

02:32And they need energy-dense systems, which, unfortunately, is why natural gas plants are

02:37still popular.

02:38But the same thing is true of nuclear power.

02:41From a very small footprint, you can generate a lot of electricity.

02:46Armen Shahabi, a Lawrence Berkeley lab scientist who's tracked data center power demands since

02:512007, said that NVIDIA's H100 chip, loaded with eight GPUs and two CPUs, is the most

02:59in-demand AI server box for data centers.

03:02Shahabi estimates that each one uses 8 to 10 kilowatts of electricity, versus previous

03:07servers which would use a fraction of that.

03:10They generate so much heat that cooling them uses up to 30% more water than traditional

03:15data centers.

03:17Globally, AI demand may use up to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water in 2027, or according

03:24to a Cornell University study, quote,

03:26More than the total annual water withdrawal of Denmark, or half of the United Kingdom.

03:32Shahabi said, quote,

03:34They're so heat-dense and so power-dense, they're up in the range of 70 to 80 kilowatts

03:39per rack.

03:41And there's talk that's going to go up to 100 kilowatts really soon.

03:44It's basically 10 times higher than servers used in the past.

03:49Companies like Microsoft are also making plans to use SMRs to power their AI data centers.

03:55And company founder Bill Gates is chairman of TerraPower, which is developing a new kind

04:00of sodium reactor that also uses salt to store energy.

04:04OpenAI's Sam Altman is backing Oklo, a developer of small fission reactors that recently went

04:10public, as well as Helion, one of many startups attempting to commercialize nuclear fusion,

04:16a compelling carbon-free power source that's free of problematic nuclear waste.

04:21Still, it's unlikely any fusion-based systems will become commercially viable until the 2030s.

04:29For full coverage, check out Alan Onsman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:35This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:37Thanks for tuning in.

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