Google servers will begin to be powered by SMR nuclear reactors in 2030

Artificial intelligence and increased demand for cloud services is creating an unprecedented increase in demand for electricity. The large server infrastructures of large companies are now comparable to those of, not so small, cities, needing their own generators and reinforcements in the electrical network.

Google has opted for nuclear energy to generate the energy necessary for its future data center plants, announcing that the first small nuclear reactor (SMR, or small modular reactors), will be located in Oak Ridge and will be capable of generating 50 megawatts of electrical power to the company’s servers.

The reactor will be built and managed by the company Kairos Power following an agreement reached with Google.

The first SMR nuclear reactor to power Google servers will be put into operation in 2030

Called Hermes 2, this nuclear reactor is expected to come into operation in 2030, becoming the first reactor of this type to be dedicated to a private company.

Those 50 MW will not be enough for all the data center infrastructure that Google has, or plans to have, in different nearby buildings. In fact, this nuclear reactor will only be able to offer 10% of the company’s electrical needs.

We are talking about the search engine company having agreed to build several more reactors to obtain 500 megawatts of power for its servers.

If plans go according to plan, the rest of the reactors will be ready in 2035 to reach the goal of 500 megawatts.