Meta: Nuclear power deal for 20 years

The Facebook group Meta has become the next tech giant to secure nuclear power for its data centers. Meta will purchase the entire energy production of a nuclear power plant in the US state of Illinois for 20 years, the operator Constellation Energy announced.

The Group’s commitment will ensure the operation of the 1,121-megawatt power plant even after the expiry of subsidies, which were used to avert the planned closure in 2017.

Meta relies heavily on artificial intelligence. Training and operating AI software requires a lot of activity in data centers – and this also entails high power consumption.

Several other tech companies are also relying on nuclear power. For example, Constellation Energy will be restarting a reactor at the decommissioned US nuclear power plant Three Mile Island for Microsoft in the coming years. The software giant has agreed to purchase the energy produced there for 20 years. Google plans to purchase energy from innovative small reactors developed by Kairos Power from 2030. Amazon also relies on such technologies.

dpa