Ariz. governor vetoes “fast track” bill for nuclear

Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 11:59AMNuclear News

Gov. Katie Hobbs put the brakes on legislation that would have eliminated some of Arizona’s regulations and oversight of small modular reactors, technology that is largely under consideration by data centers and heavy industrial power users.

The advantages and challenges of nuclear-powered data centers

Fri, Apr 11, 2025, 12:03PMANS Nuclear Cafe

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has posted a list of the advantages and challenges of using nuclear energy to power AI data centers, which some estimates suggest could consume as much as 12 percent of U.S. energy production by 2028. The DOE also posted a brief video on its YouTube channel to accompany the list.

A good narrative for nuclear power

Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 12:01PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Melbye

During an interview for Kitco News at the 2025 Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention, held in Toronto in early March, the chief executive of British Columbia–based Uranium Royalty Corp. noted, “I’ve never seen a better narrative around nuclear power [and] uranium.”

CEO Scott Melbye, who is also executive vice president of Texas-based Uranium Energy Corp. and has 41 years of experience in the uranium sector, added that nuclear energy has gone from stagnation or decline to a point where it may double by 2040.

TerraPower roundup: Progress for Natrium project

Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 5:00PMNuclear News

TerraPower has continued to make aggressive progress in several areas for its Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project since the beginning of the year. Natrium is an advanced 345-MWe reactor that has liquid sodium as a coolant, improved fuel utilization, enhanced safety features, and an integrated energy storage system, allowing for a brief power output boost to 500 MWe if needed for grid resiliency. The company broke ground for its first Natrium plant in 2024 near a retiring coal facility in Kemmerer, Wyo.

IEA report focuses on SMRs and investment

Tue, Feb 18, 2025, 5:57PMANS Nuclear Cafe

The International Energy Agency has published a new report examining opportunities for the nuclear power industry to address concerns related to energy security and climate change. The Path to a New Era for Nuclear Energy explores areas of policy, innovation, construction, and financing with an emphasis on investment-related issues regarding small modular reactors.

The IEA report describes encouraging developments taking place in the nuclear energy industry, such as increasing investment, technology advances, and supportive policies in many countries. But it also notes that certain key challenges need to be overcome if nuclear energy is to meet the needs of rising electricity demand, including demands from artificial intelligence and data centers. In addition to examining the present global status of nuclear power, the report evaluates the long-term outlook, quantifying expected capacity and investment through 2050.

Industry experts discuss nuclear’s role in powering data centers, meeting climate goals

Thu, Nov 7, 2024, 3:30PMANS News

As a primer to the American Nuclear Society Winter Conference and Expo, ANS Executive Director/Chief Executive Craig Piercy hosted a panel discussion titled “The State of Nuclear,” sponsored by the ANS Trustees of Nuclear. The October 29 discussion, the first in a two-part series, featured five thought leaders from the nuclear community as they reviewed the current state of nuclear power. The second panel will take place during the ANS Winter Conference in Orlando, Fla., on November 18.

Bees block Meta’s nuclear-powered data center

Wed, Nov 6, 2024, 6:05PMANS Nuclear Cafe
Photo: Sharp Photograph

The discovery of a rare species of bee by environmental regulators has blocked the plans of tech conglomerate Meta to build an artificial intelligence data center powered by nuclear energy—at least temporarily. Numerous media outlets, including Popular Science, have reported that the unnamed species of bee was detected by regulators who were surveying the land designated for the new data center—land that is located next to an unnamed nuclear power plant from which Meta had planned to obtain electricity.

FERC rejects interconnection deal for Talen-Amazon data centers

Mon, Nov 4, 2024, 9:00PMNuclear News
The Susquehanna nuclear power plant. (Photo: Talen)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has denied plans for Talen Energy to supply additional on-site power to an Amazon Web Services’ data center campus from the neighboring Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

American Nuclear Society applauds Google's and Amazon's investments in nuclear

Wed, Oct 16, 2024, 3:23PMPress Releases

Washington, D.C. — Craig Piercy, CEO of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), issued the following statement:

"The American Nuclear Society applauds the announced partnerships between Google and Kairos Power and by Amazon and X-energy. Together, these deals will add at least 820 megawatts of zero carbon electricity to the U.S. energy supply. This is a major step toward securing the commercial deployment of advanced nuclear technologies that will make the world a cleaner and more prosperous place."

White paper argues for SMRs over renewables for data centers

Tue, Oct 8, 2024, 4:54PMANS Nuclear Cafe

A white paper produced by Schneider Electric makes the case for using small modular reactors to meet the energy challenges of the data center sector. “Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Suitability for Data Centers,” by Marcin Wegrzyn and Steven Carlini, discusses the potential SMRs offer for supplying reliable, low-carbon energy to data centers, along with enhanced operational safety and improved energy resiliency, compared with renewable alternatives. However, to better evaluate SMR suitability for the continued technological advancement of data centers, an improved regulatory landscape, and ongoing international cooperation are necessary.

Constellation succeeds in rezoning property near Illinois nuclear plant

Mon, Aug 26, 2024, 4:59PMNuclear News
Byron nuclear power plant. (Photo: Constellation)

The Ogle County Board has approved a zoning change that designates 524 acres around the Byron nuclear power plant, located in northern Illinois, as industrial rather than agricultural.