See how Meta Platforms, Inc. is taking an aggressive approach to head off the increasing demand for electricity across the U.S. They are currently soliciting proposals from developers to design and construct facilities capable of producing up to 4 gigawatts of power. This effort comes in light of an increased demand for electricity from data centers. By the end of the decade, these centers might experience their energy loads increasing by four times. All these new uses add up to the equivalent of a 15,000 megawatt demand just to cool this hot infrastructure. By 2029, this demand is projected to increase almost 16%.
Now, Microsoft just announced their partnership with Constellation Energy. Collectively, they hope to reprise the success of the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear facility and restart a canceled reactor. This ambitious undertaking serves to underscore the current wave of enthusiasm for nuclear power as a promising silver bullet to address growing energy demands. Predictably, the future of nuclear energy over the next five years is less clear, with estimates ranging from one extreme to the next.
New nuclear projects would take around 18 months to build. The long-term viability of big nuclear plants coming online a decade from now remains dubious at best. As the marketplace changes, industry experts caution that these facilities may have a hard time ensuring demand. Recent changes in state and federal legislation have made the landscape even more difficult for the advancement of this leading clean technology. This morning, the House Ways and Means Committee released our first glimpse at a draft reconciliation bill. This legislation would repeal the new nuclear power subsidies that were enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act. This flip would be a huge, possibly fatal blow to the financial viability of new nuclear projects.
Today, fewer than twelve other sites in the U.S. hold combined operating licenses. They have early site permits from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Each one of these sites has the potential to support reactors with generation capacities over 1 gigawatt per reactor. Retrofitting or repowering existing nuclear power plants would make them eligible for tax credits of up to $15 per megawatt-hour. This continues to add an extra layer of complexity throughout the industry. While legacy plants strive to stay competitive — often with continued state support — new competitive entrants face the prospect of an even tougher regulatory gauntlet.
A newish startup recently closed a Series A funding round that set the investment world abuzz. Other prominent firms—CIV, Goldcrest Capital, MCJ Collective, True Ventures, and Wonder Ventures—quickly came on to make the fund happen. With an ambitious plan to increase to 100 employees, the startup is betting on itself to find a place in the rapidly evolving nuclear innovation ecosystem.
Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. After researching climate technologies as a 2018 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, Tom is now focusing on developing more effective business models that allow journalism to get ahead of these game-changing developments.
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