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Google commits to buying power generated by nuclear-energy startup Kairos Power

(www.wsj.com)
589 points atomic128 | 1 comments | 14 Oct 24 19:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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ChrisArchitect ◴[14 Oct 24 20:43 UTC] No.41841759[source]▶
Related:

Three Mile Island nuclear plant restart in Microsoft AI power deal

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41601443

replies(1): >>41843260 #
elcritch ◴[14 Oct 24 23:21 UTC] No.41843260[source]▶
It'll be a "wow I didn't see that coming" moment if it's AI (training) that inadvertently saves us from catastrophic climate change by all the big tech funding a resurgence of nuclear power.
replies(1): >>41843844 #
defrost ◴[15 Oct 24 00:55 UTC] No.41843844[source]▶
Ditto.

Caveat. I did pencil in data centres using nuclear as highly probable some years ago (I worked in geophysical energy+mineral exploration for decades then moved to resource intelligence presentation).

Won't I don't see is the "inadvertently saves us from catastrophic climate change" part .. sure, that might happen but it doesn't follow that it will - the more probable outcome is that overall we humans just consume even more energy with some of that addditional energy coming from nuclear.

replies(1): >>41850696 #
asdf000333 ◴[15 Oct 24 17:10 UTC] No.41850696[source]▶
The assumption is that AI builds momentum in nuclear power to the point where it can be used elsewhere. I've kept hearing that nuclear is very expensive mainly due to lack of scale.
replies(1): >>41854209 #
1. defrost ◴[15 Oct 24 23:36 UTC] No.41854209{3}[source]▶
The reality is that human energy consumption is expanding faster than nuclear is likely to be built out.

It's a tall ask for nuclear to cover projected additional demand (see: global energy consumption data over time), it's even more of an ask to expect it to make inroads on existing demand also.

The closest thing we have for examples of nuclear at scale is Korea in recent past decades and currently China right now: https://itif.org/publications/2024/06/17/how-innovative-is-c...

Nuclear is also expensive in comparison to alternatives (depending upon local expertise): Australia's costings (cold start on nuclear power tech) are that the better ROI over next four decades on energy investment now is not nuclear (2024 CSIRO energy report).