Microsoft to restart Three-Mile Island Nuclear Plant

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/constellation-inks-power-supply-deal-with-microsoft-2024-09-20/

AI centers are increasing demand of electricity. Nuclear is low carbon and more reliable than wind and solar.

" The deal would help enable a revival of Unit 1 of the five-decades-old facility in Pennsylvania that was retired in 2019 due to economic reasons. Unit 2, which had the meltdown, will not be restarted.

Constellation plans to spend about $1.6 billion to revive the plant, which it expects to come online by 2028."

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And Oracle plans to use 3 SMR’s for their new data center. Wowzers.

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At the time it shut down, TMI Unit 1 was licensed to operate until 2034. As reported in the following link, Constellation Energy will apply to extend the license until 2054.

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Meanwhile, Holtec is progressing with plans to restart the currently shuttered Palisades plant in Michigan. Palisades was shut down in 2022.

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Not to be outdone, NextEra Energy is evaluating restart of the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa, which was shut down in 2020 after a wind storm damaged a cooling tower.

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Finally, earlier this year, Amazon Web Services (AWS) purchased a data center located adjacent to the currently operating Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

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It is interesting how things have changed in just a few years. If Constellation, Entergy (previous owner of Palisades), and NextEra had foreseen the increasing demand for computing power, they never would have shut down their plants in the first place.

_ Pete

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So SMRs are not hot today. Restart of old 1970s reactors is the new hot nuclear topic. Which is the cheaper option and which can be accomplished the fastest?
Jaak

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Because SMRs are new, getting them permitted is likely to take longer. More questions to answer, etc. Previously permitted old reactors should be less risky for regulators and faster. But of course once SMRs are running we hope that changes and they become faster and easier.

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued a ruling that could impact these sort of power purchase agreements between tech companies that operate large data centers and the power companies that supply the electricity.

FERC rejected a proposed agreement between Talen Energy, which owns the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, and Amazon Web Services, to increase the amount of power supplied to a data center. This has caused a sell-off in the stocks associated with some of these companies.

_ Pete

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FERC rejected the Amazon/Talen proposal because it was “behind the meter”, i.e., they would avoid grid taxes. IIRC, the Microsoft deal is not behind the meter.

DB2

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Another recently retired US nuclear power plant may restart in the next few years. The Duane Arnold Energy Center was Iowa’s only nuclear plant when it shut down in 2020. The owner now sees growing demand for power, and has filed a request with the NRC to change the licensing status. NextEra is also looking buying new natural gas generators from GE Vernova.

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Separately, Bill Gates’ TerraPower company has signed an agreement with a large data center developer to supply power from new nuclear power plants that TerraPower is developing.

From the link:
Tech companies are scrambling to determine where to get all the electricity they’ll need for energy-hungry AI data centers that are putting growing pressure on power grids. They’re increasingly turning to nuclear energy, including next-generation reactors that startups like TerraPower are developing.

“The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace after decades of business as usual, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries,” TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said in a press release.

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A question:
With the recent news of China’s DeepSeek AI, I wonder if the projected increase in electricity demand will really be as big as some anticipate? Supposedly, DeepSeek operates on a smaller number of computer processors, so the power demand is less. On the other hand, beware of Jevons Paradox. Efficiency improvements in a technology often result in even more demand, and energy requirements go up even more.

_ Pete

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The small reactors for the likes of Google are being rethought in light of Deepseek’s breakthrough.

But the IRRs in the planning departments would have sunk many of those deals anyway. Deals so loudly shouted would have been canceled in a hush tone.

WSJ article (don’t recall which one) says much less power to train but MORE power to run the inference. This sounds like more power overall, since one AI is in widespread deployment you train less (compared to when creating and testing) and run inference more via many users/subscribers.

Mike

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I understand the tech companies are already constrained by lack of power for data centers in general, in addition from new demand from AI.

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I should note that most other articles say (or imply) the opposite so we have to get someone hosting a server to actually verify this.

Mike

However, as has been observed elsewhere, lower power, cheaper, etc. makes use of the tool more attractive, leading to more use overall, resulting in more total power use.

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Based on My engineering experience, I think the need for AI electricity demand is highly overblown. Remember the early 1970s most utilities invested in nuclear power because it was thought to be cheap, easy to build, and safe. Most of these utilities spent lots of money on engineering and construction on these nuclear projects, but dozens were abandoned. Nuclear power was too expensive, to difficult to build, and nuclear accidents happened.

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Keep in mind in the '70s there was a long term history of increasing demand for electricity. And nuclear cost was competitive. But then came the oil embargo and conservation efforts. More energy efficiency. Demand flattened. So much planned growth in generating demand turned out not to be required. Not unlike the dot com internet fiber boom.

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And in Europe…

Meanwhile, utility EDF has identified four sites on its own land that it will offer for data centers…

With strong interest already secured from its financial partners, Fluidstack’s Phase 1 of the project will be supported by an initial investment of EUR10 billion (USD10 billion) and is set to become operational in 2026. The facility’s Phase 1 will ultimately host about 500,000 next-generation AI chips.

“The new facility will leverage France’s abundant, carbon-free, and predominantly nuclear energy to provide up to 1 gigawatt of dedicated AI compute power, reinforcing the country’s leadership in AI infrastructure, energy security, and digital sovereignty,” Fluidstack said. “Designed for scalable expansion beyond 1 GW by 2028, this project positions France as a premier global AI hub, offering unparalleled compute capacity for next-generation AI models.”

DB2

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Meta has signed a 20-year agreement to buy nuclear power from Constellation Energy. Beginning in 2027, the tech giant will purchase about 1.1 gigawatts of power from Constellation’s Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois. Without Meta’s backing, the plant was in danger of premature closure.

DB2

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I hope they get that meter fixed that Jack Lemmon had to snap his fingers on to get it unstuck.

Maybe like the demand for EVs a couple years ago - or maybe not. That’s the thing about the future. You never know until it gets here. On the other hand, the seemingly limitless demand for internet backbone came true, and then some. Between Netflix, YouTube, and all the other hungry businesses, it’s lucky there was such a crazy buildout of it in the 1990’s, even as others were saying “enough already.”

That caught my attention, because the Clinton station has a total capacity of 1.1 GW. That implies that 100% of the plant’s output will go to powering Meta’s data centers. Well, not exactly.

The following article from TechCrunch indicates that Meta is merely purchasing the “clean energy attributes” from the Clinton station. I guess that means carbon credits, or some other accounting sleight of hand to make Meta look Green.

From the link:
Electricity will still flow to the local grid, so Meta’s purchase won’t directly power one of its data centers, though the company does have one about two hours north of Clinton in DeKalb. Rather, the deal is a bit of carbon accounting to lower the company’s overall climate impact. It doesn’t reduce emissions on the grid, but prevents them from potentially increasing.

Also, potentially important in the TechCrunch article:
Meta and its Big Tech peers have fallen head over heels for nuclear power lately. Meta announced earlier this year that it was soliciting proposals for new nuclear power plants that would generate between 1 and 4 gigawatts of power. Today, the company said it has received over 50 qualified submissions for sites in more than 20 states.

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It appears Meta is willing to build new plants, and there are many nuclear start ups willing to sell them those plants. Those start ups will need to get their designs licensed, first though.

One of the new companies that might have a head start is NuScale. The NRC recently approved an uprate of their original 50 MW version, to 77 MW. This should make the cost analysis work out a little better.

77 MW x 6 reactors per plant = 462 MW total capacity

_ Pete

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I think you expect Microsoft to ship its power into the grid so it can receive it at their location. They could build a data center nearby or build their own high tension line to serve it but easier to use the existing grid. And probably more cost effective to upgrade existing grid if extra capacity is needed. Rights of way and permits are already in place.

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