Meta announced that it is seeking proposals from nuclear power developers to help meet its AI and environmental goals, becoming the latest major tech company to show interest in this type of energy amid a predicted surge in electricity demand.
The social media giant stated on Tuesday that it aims to add one to four gigawatts of new nuclear power generation capacity in the United States starting from the early 2030s. A typical U.S. nuclear power plant has a capacity of about one gigawatt.
At Meta, we believe that nuclear power will play a pivotal role in transitioning to a cleaner, more reliable, and diverse power grid," the company said.
Energy usage at data centers in the United States is expected to nearly triple between 2023 and 2030, with estimates from Goldman Sachs suggesting this will require about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity.
However, quickly meeting the increasing demand for energy using nuclear reactors will be challenging, as companies face regulatory constraints, potential uranium fuel supply hurdles, and local opposition. In September, Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a deal to restart a unit at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, under which the software company will receive power to run its data centers.
This announcement followed a similar agreement in March, in which Amazon.com purchased a nuclear-powered data center from Talen Energy.