this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
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37
Google turns to nuclear to power AI data centres (www.bbc.com)
submitted 4 weeks ago by fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc to c/technology@beehaw.org
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Google has signed a deal to use small nuclear reactors to generate the vast amounts of energy needed to power its artificial intelligence (AI) data centres.The company says the agreement with Kairos Power will see it start using the first reactor this decade and bring more online by 2035.

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[–] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 18 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

It's pure greenwashing.

They made a deal with a company that has zero practical experience with nuclear reactors, literally built nothing.

It's impossible that in just 6 years they will manage to:

  1. Build a test reactor for their new unproven technology that as of now exists only as a PowerPoint presentation to show to investors
  2. Have it approved by the government
  3. Build the full scale reactor
  4. Have it approved by the government
  5. Get a license to use enriched uranium in a private setting

Even if they finished yesterday to build the final version of the full scale reactor, 6 years aren't enough to go all through the regulatory red tape

Now that they promised that will use "green" energy in the future, Google can continue to use energy from coal and in 2030 everyone has forgotten about this vaporware deal

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 6 points 4 weeks ago

Yeah I don't know enough about the technologies involved to have an informed opinion but solutions involving nuclear always seem like this...

"Just let us keep doing what we're doing while we invent a new technology that will solve all our problems."

Obviously, the answer is... we absolutely should invent this new technology but while we're doing that we can transition to renewables and avoid grifts that rely on absurd energy usage like crypto and AI.