From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

As green energy policies pushed by big tech destabilise the public grid, tech industry insiders are pushing onsite miniature nuclear reactors to insulate their businesses from blackouts.

Miniature nuclear reactors could be the answer to sustainable datacenter growth

Did someone say teenage mutant ninja servers?

Tobias Mann 
Fri 30 Dec 2022  // 10:00 UTC

Datacenters use a lot of power and despite our best efforts, a big chunk of that still comes from burning fossil fuels. But what if instead of relying on local utilities for power, these facilities generated their own – maybe using a relatively itty-bitty nuclear reactor?

In a recent report, Omdia analysts Alan Howard and Vladimir Galabov made the case that using small modular reactors (SMRs) to power large datacenters might not be as crazy as it sounds.

As the name suggests, SMRs are essentially just miniaturized reactors. Instead of a massive facility producing gigawatts or more of power, SMRs are designed to produce just a fraction of that. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that depending on the SMR in question, the reactors can produce anywhere from tens to hundreds of megawatts of electrical output.

…Read more: https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/smr_nuclear_datacenter/

The report from Omdia is available here.

Omdia appear to be well connected tech insiders, they are part of Informa, a major IT knowledge organisation. The largest Informa shareholder is Blackrock (5.92%).

In our glorious Net Zero future, while you are shivering on rationed power, with central government smart meters dictating how much you can heat your home, while old people are struggling with skyrocketing green energy bills are choosing between heating and eating, your streaming movie services will still be reliable, because the computer systems and businesses of the people who funded the politicians who orchestrated your misery will be supplied by onsite miniature nuclear reactors.