WP: How a failed project could help solve the world’s biggest energy need
Applied Atomics says the first 195-megawatt reactor could power data centers and industrial sites as electricity demand rises, the companies said.
- Today, Applied Atomics is working with BWXT to revive mPower, a small modular reactor project in Lynchburg, Virginia, aiming to power data centers amid surging artificial intelligence electricity demand.
- BWXT ended development in 2017 after investing about $400 million, as cheap natural gas and the 2011 Fukushima disaster reduced interest in new nuclear power plants.
- Unlike experimental designs, mPower uses familiar light-water technology to generate about 195 megawatts, enough to power roughly 155,000 homes, according to Applied Atomics co-founder Ben Kellie.
- Collaborating with Core Power, the team is exploring floating nuclear plants anchored offshore. Core Power CEO Mikal Boe said, "We have great interest from utilities in the U.S."
- Consultant David Schlissel cautioned, "We are now living in about the fifth supposed 'nuclear renaissance' in the U.S.," citing persistent regulatory and cost hurdles that have plagued prior attempts.
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Former SpaceX Engineers Are Reviving a Forgotten Nuclear Project. AI Data Centers Could Be the Customers.
Nuclear startup Applied Atomics is working with BWXT to revive mPower, a small modular reactor project that was abandoned in 2017 after years of development to power AI data centers.
How AI is giving nuclear power a second chance
MPower is a small modular nuclear reactor project that was once considered a promising source of affordable nuclear energy, The Washington Post reports. About $400 million was invested in the project before BWXT ended development in 2017, as cheap natural gas made nuclear power less competitive and the Fukushima disaster reduced interest in new nuclear plants. The 120-foot-tall test facility outside of Lynchburg, Virginia, then sat unused for …
An abandoned nuclear reactor for almost a decade could return to the foreground, based on the huge energy consumption of artificial intelligence data centers. A Virginia testing facility, part of a project in which $400 million has been invested, is now being analyzed.
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Cryptocurrency News | Cryptocurrency Prices | Market CapFormer SpaceX engineers revive shelved nuclear reactor design to power AI data centers
Reviving the mPower reactor design could accelerate AI data center growth, but faces challenges in cost, regulation, and nuclear waste management. The post Former SpaceX engineers revive shelved nuclear reactor design to power AI data centers appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
How a failed project could help solve the world’s biggest energy need %
The sci-fi-worthy machine soaring 120 feet tall in the hills outside Lynchburg had been all but left for dead — a $400 million experiment that collapsed as the energy economy shifted and the financial prospects for next-generation nuclear technology soured. The faux eight-story reactor in Lynchburg, built to mimic a nuclear plant but run on electricity so engineers can safely monitor and tinker with it, languished a decade unused on a Liberty Un…
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