admin 
To fulfill Microsoft AI ambitions, the company plans to transform the Three Mile island nuclear reactor into data centers for its tech industry’s rising needs. The need for expanding its data centers is now on top for which Microsoft hopes nuclear energy would be a great rescue.
Microsoft contemplates that the US nuclear plan would serve to be an excellent climate-friendly answer to its massive electricity needs. However, the company knows that Microsoft AI ambitions would be challenged with high regulatory hurdles, possible fuel supply obstacles, and sometimes resistance from local environmental organizations.
(Also read: Telegram Boss CEO Pavel Durov Refused To Join Child Protection Schemes: A Continued Refusal)
Constellation helps to bring back data center for Microsoft AI ambitions
The plan to meet the quick needs of data centers along with artificial intelligence for new nuclear reactors would be a huge restart in the industry. For this, Microsoft and Constellation Energy (CEG.O) made a deal to restart the plant in Pennsylvania on Friday.
It is claimed to be the first-ever data center restart in the tech industry. Constellation’s CEO, Joe Dominguez, claimed the US nuclear plants would be a huge source of energy along with being a reliable as well as climate-friendly solution to address Microsft AI ambitions. Weather-dependent wind and solar energy would not be such issues for the said task, he added.
Amazon’s deal for nuclear plant
This announcement came soon after Amazon locked a deal for the purchase of a nuclear-powered data center from Talen Energy (TLN.O). Several other nuclear contracts are in line, which was confirmed by the sources of the power industry.
The need to fulfill the aims of these contracts is immense. The expected data center power for the new US plant in Pennsylvania is roughly triple between 2023 and 2030. It would require approximately 47 gigawatts of new capacity generation. The estimates are generated by Goldman Sachs, besides those of natural gas, wind, and solar energy to fill in the gaps within.
Climate concerns and greenhouse emissions
The local climate-conscious organizations and investors are already on the alert that with these estimates, the spike does not skyrocket further, which could give rise to greenhouse emissions later.
Currently, it seems that for Microsoft and Constellation, the deal is going to be more challenging than fruitful in the near future.
A global nuclear energy leader for Marsh, and a risk advisor regarding Three Mile Island’s project, Kate Fowler said, “Nobody has done this before…There’s going to be challenges that pop up”.
The Three Mile Island plant
Previously, the Three Mile Island plant made waves in the news back in 1979 but it was not pursued with dedication after the worst nuclear incident in US history.
Therefore, Microsoft has taken extra measures for crafting the current plan where the Unit 1 reactor at the Pennsylvania plant would be active. Unit 1 has been operating safely for decades, although it was closed five years ago.
It would take 1.6 billion to restart Unit 1 till 2028 in order to break even Microsoft’s data center plan revenues as well as consumption estimates in the region.
The regulators have not yet confirmed the key permits that Microsoft needs at the moment to bring the plant to a new life. Local opponents could prove to be a major hurdle in doing so since their partial meltdown in 1979.
More challenges
Another challenge could be putting the equipment and infrastructure to use again after having closed down for five years. This information was affirmed by a nuclear safety expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Edwin Lyman.
Lyman said, “Constellation should expect to encounter problems that will be costly and time-consuming to fix”. He was of the view that such problems are bound to happen and dealing with them would remain part of their initial launching phases.
About The Author
