Microsoft, like many tech companies, is going all out for AI. It is of course fun to see all the tasks you can leave to ChatGPT or CoPilot these days, but there is also a downside to the success of AI: running all the data centers requires a huge amount of energy. Microsoft has an ‘old’ solution for that.
Microsoft is buying the Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania: an old nuclear reactor. In order to get the installation working again, the company would Put down $1.6 billion. Then Microsoft buys all the energy that the nuclear reactor produces for twenty years. That is quite a lot, because with the 835 megawatts of energy you can supply about 800,000 households with electricity.
Reduce emissions
Microsoft says the nuclear reactor will help it achieve its goal to become ‘carbon negative’The nuclear plant’s operator, Constellation Energy, says the plant can provide zero carbon dioxide emissions and energy all day long, not just when there is wind or sun.
Of course, there are also disadvantages to using nuclear power plants. For example, a small amount of radioactive waste is created. Plus, the supplies of materials that provide the nuclear power plant with energy are finite. There is also a chance -although small- of accidents. For example, the adjacent Three Mile Island Unit 2 had a partial meltdown in 1979 and small amounts of radioactive materials were released. However, these had no measurable effect on the health of employees and residents. Fortunately, many new protocols have been drawn up since then to prevent this in the future.
Amazon is also participating
Microsoft is not the first with such a plan. Other tech companies are also going to use nuclear energy. Amazon, for example, bought a data center powered by a nearby nuclear reactor a few months ago.
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Source: www.bright.nl
