cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20016368
Modern AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power, and it looks like they will get even more power-hungry in the coming years as companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI strive towards artificial general intelligence (AGI). Oracle has already outlined plans to use nuclear power plants for its 1-gigawatt datacenters. It looks like Microsoft plans to do the same as it just inked a deal to restart a nuclear power plant to feed its data centers, reports Bloomberg.
For anyone that thinks Microsoft is going to be in full control of the daily operations of this plant, you are sorely mistaken. The NRC has extremely strict regulations for all power plants, and I can promise you that Three Mile Island will be run to the same standards as any other nuclear power plant in the United States. TMI had design flaws that were heavily studied after the incident, and the findings from those investigations have influenced new legislation to prevent such accidents from happening again. The plant will be entirely overhauled to meet modern safety standards before coming back online, you can’t just chuck some uranium back into the core and flip a switch to turn it back on.