Nuclear power to fuel Google's data centers via molten salt reactors by 2030
In the heart of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the city's rich nuclear heritage began with the Manhattan Project, a new chapter is being written. Kairos Power, a startup backed by Google, is set to bring 50 megawatts of carbon-free nuclear power to the region.
The company's project, known as the Hermes 2 demonstration plant, has its roots in the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) molten salt reactor experiments of the 1950s and '60s. ORNL's Aircraft Reactor Experiment, built in 1954, was the first to demonstrate the viability of a molten salt reactor.
Kairos Power's design updates and commercial ambitions reprise this legacy with modern technology. The reactor will use pebble-bed fuel with TRISO-coated high-assay low-enriched uranium and molten FLiBe as coolant—a fluoride salt mixture of lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride. Power is generated indirectly by pulling heat from the molten fluoride salts to power a steam generator and turbine.
The Hermes 2 demonstration plant, aiming for operation around 2030, will initially power Google's data centers in Tennessee and Alabama. Google is not alone in its interest in this clean energy source. Major cloud providers, including Microsoft and Amazon, have invested heavily in nuclear energy to address energy availability concerns for cloud and hyperscale datacenter expansions. Amazon, for instance, has tapped X-Energy SMR tech to offset its growing datacenter footprint.
Kairos overcame a major supply challenge by partnering with Materion Corporation in Ohio, constructing the world's largest FLiBe production facility to supply high-purity coolant salt essential for commercial reactors. The company's strategy involves an iterative, rapid development process including hardware demonstration and regulatory engagement. Kairos Power is one of the few SMR startups to get Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval to construct a pair of 35 megawatt test reactors.
The project, supported by Google and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), intends to create a regional nuclear innovation hub at Oak Ridge's Heritage Center. The TVA's involvement signifies a significant utility commitment to Generation IV nuclear technology deployment in the U.S. However, critics argue that SMRs are still too expensive, too slow to build, and too risky to play a significant role in transitioning away from fossil fuels.
Despite these challenges, Kairos Power presses on, building a simulator at the University of Tennessee to train technicians to operate the facility. The Chocolate Factory, a nod to Google's unofficial nickname, has expressed interest in benefiting from the Hermes 2 demonstration plant, which is expected to come online in 2030. Oracle, too, plans to deploy at least three SMRs to power a gigawatt-scale datacenter.
As Kairos Power moves forward with its project, it continues to modernize and commercialise historic MSR research, transitioning towards clean energy supply for large-scale consumers like Google's data centers by the early 2030s.
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