TerraPower’s nuclear reactor has a secret weapon for powering AI data centers

Nuclear powerfulness startups person been pitching themselves arsenic the antidote to what ails AI information centers: powerfulness that’s ever available. Bill Gates-founded TerraPower is 1 of the latest to propulsion its chapeau that into that ring, with Bloomberg reporting that the startup plans to denote its archetypal information halfway task this year.

TerraPower did not accidental who the lawsuit volition be, though successful January, it announced that Meta had agreed to buy 8 of its Natrium powerfulness plants. The information halfway project, expected to interruption crushed successful 2027, would beryllium the company’s 2nd powerfulness plant, with its archetypal already under construction successful Wyoming.

Not each atomic reactor is suited to information halfway duty, but TerraPower possesses 1 cardinal vantage — vigor retention — that promises to springiness it an borderline implicit competitors. And it’s each acknowledgment to renewable powerfulness sources similar upwind and solar.

Nuclear reactors, TerraPower’s included, enactment champion erstwhile they’re moving astatine afloat tilt. Of each the antithetic types of powerfulness plants, atomic reactors person the highest capableness origin — 92.5% of the time, they make astatine maximum powerfulness successful the U.S. But successful a way, they request to be. Existing reactors are dilatory to ramp up and down, susceptible of expanding oregon decreasing lone astir 5% of their full rated output per minute, according to the National Laboratory of the Rockies. 

New tiny modular reactors (SMRs), which galore startups are pursuing, tin respond faster, astir 10% of their rated output per minute, per NRL. But moving astatine reduced capableness isn’t perfect — it’s hard to marque wealth erstwhile you’re not generating electrons. 

That’s existent of immoderate powerfulness plant, but it’s particularly existent of nuclear, which has the highest superior expenditures of immoderate generating technology. Startups are hoping that wide manufacturing of SMRs volition bring capex down, but that has yet to beryllium proven. And if it does work, it could instrumentality a decade oregon more to reap the benefits. Every startup acknowledges that its aboriginal powerfulness plants volition beryllium expensive, truthful it makes consciousness to run it them astatine highest capableness arsenic often arsenic possible.

For information centers, particularly those that trust connected behind-the-meter power, that poses a challenge. Their loads, particularly erstwhile grooming AI oregon responding to prompts, tin descend and soar rapidly arsenic GPUs respond to the tasks. The swings are truthful demanding that earthy state turbines have been breaking nether the stress. To creaseless the curve, they request to usage ample banks of batteries, which summation costs further.

TerraPower designed its 345-megawatt molten salt-cooled reactor to enactment astir those challenges. One of the cardinal considerations was ensuring the reactor could complement intermittent sources of energy similar upwind and star — the powerfulness works needed to ramp up and down quickly. While TerraPower had renewable power, not information centers, successful caput erstwhile it sketched its plans, the 2 are likewise intermittent, conscionable connected antithetic sides of the equation.

To ramp quickly, TerraPower doesn’t summation oregon alteration the powerfulness output of its reactor. Rather, it keeps connected splitting atoms, and the other vigor gets stored successful a elephantine vat of molten sodium. When powerfulness request spikes, the powerfulness works tin pat that reservoir to make much steam to rotation the turbines. The costly instrumentality keeps moving adjacent erstwhile request is low, allowing the institution to amortize its concern implicit much operational hours.

The attack takes the champion of atomic powerfulness — precocious capableness origin — and pairs it with an vigor retention exertion that allows TerraPower to play nicely connected a renewable-heavy grid oregon erstwhile connected to an information center. It’s a flexible attack that could springiness the startup an vantage successful the contention to powerfulness AI.