this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2024
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Microsoft inks deal to restart Three Mile Island nuclear reactor to fuel its voracious AI ambitions (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 1 month ago by irreticent to c/technology
152 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Modern AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power, and it looks like they will get even more power-hungry in the coming years as companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI strive towards artificial general intelligence (AGI). Oracle has already outlined plans to use nuclear power plants for its 1-gigawatt datacenters. It looks like Microsoft plans to do the same as it just inked a deal to restart a nuclear power plant to feed its data centers, reports Bloomberg.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If there were plans for it to be used, then I’m with you. But if I’m being honest, I’d put money on the original plan consisting of letting it sit there for decades to come without being used.

And “paying out the ass” is what they will likely be doing, just to the private corpos that own the plant. It’s not government run, the money would never circle back to taxpayers beyond normal taxation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

that's what I'm complaining about. If there can be plans now, why was the original plan just "let it rot"?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Greed? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don’t think you’re going to get the answer you want here. But I’d be willing to bet M$ is dropping the $$$ for whatever retrofits and repairs need to be done, with the agreement being they get the power near cost for a set duration.

Obviously that’s speculation on my part, but would explain the situation quite cleanly.