SAN FRANCISCO: Silicon Valley is pouring big money into nuclear power projects to power ambitious plans surrounding artificial intelligence and sustainable power supply as vital to the green transition.

Some of the tech world’s biggest players, such as Facebook’s parent company Meta, are exploring such cleaner energy options to power their power-intensive data centers.

Many have their sights set on small modular reactors (SMRs), advanced nuclear reactors with a power capacity of about one-third the generating capacity of conventional nuclear power reactors.

These are a fraction of the size of conventional nuclear reactors and can be assembled in a factory and transported to another location for installation.

Some experts have said these SMRs are up to 8 percent more efficient than conventional reactors.

“This efficiency increase… is exactly what the world needs to meet sustainability targets and also achieve the net zero target,” said David Brown, director of global analytics provider Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Transition Practice.

“This is a significant shift for the industry, which we believe will feature very prominently in discussions with governments and potential buyers.”

A CARBON-FREE ALTERNATIVE

According to experts, power demand from data centers and powered by AI computing is expected to account for approximately 8 percent of global energy demand by 2050.

This will make it even more difficult to retire fossil fuel power plants, especially given that data centers need constant, stable power.

Many believe that nuclear energy can help close this gap because it is a cleaner, carbon-free alternative.