To satisfy the energy demands of its fast growing artificial intelligence activities, Microsoft is revitalizing Three Mile Island, the site of America’s most famous nuclear catastrophe. Constellation Energy will restart the Pennsylvania-based plant under a new 20-year contract to supply Microsoft’s data centers clean, carbon-free electricity. The factory shutdown for financial reasons in 2019 will be renamed the “Crane Clean Energy Center” as part of the tech behemoth’s quest of sustainable energy solutions.
Planned to be online by 2028, the project will generate 835 megawatts of energy—enough to run major artificial intelligence infrastructure. Investing about $1.6 billion, Constellation Energy is restoring the facility, therefore boosting Pennsylvania’s economy and generating thousands of employment.
Microsoft’s approach of shifting its activities toward greener, renewable energy is in accordance with this cooperation between them and Constellation Energy. Microsoft wants to become carbon negative by 2030, so it is using nuclear energy to offset the always rising power consumption of its artificial intelligence systems.
Although nuclear power provides a more stable energy source than solar and wind, the Three Mile Island rebirth is not without debate. Most people recall the facility from the 1979 catastrophe, in which a partial meltdown at one of many reactors caused mass evacuation and raised questions about nuclear safety. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission insists, meanwhile, that the event did not cause any appreciable environmental or health risk.
Reopening the station is also in line with a larger trend among tech corporations, which are looking at nuclear energy more and more to run data centers. Standard power systems are under more strain as demand for artificial intelligence processing resources develops. To guarantee dependable power sources for their expanding infrastructure, companies such Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are aggressively investing in several energy alternatives including wind, solar, and nuclear.
Particularly because small modular reactors (SMRs) provide future promise, the nuclear alternative is becoming popular. These technologies, which are still in their early years of development, require legal clearance though. The IT sector sees current nuclear reactors such as Three Mile Island as a workable answer to satisfy its power needs.
By using nuclear power, Microsoft shows its dedication to a multifarious approach to energy, integrating several renewable resources with nuclear energy to reach sustainability in the AI age.
