Monday, April 1st 2024
US Government Wants Nuclear Plants to Offload AI Data Center Expansion
The expansion of AI technology affects not only the production and demand for graphics cards but also the electricity grid that powers them. Data centers hosting thousands of GPUs are becoming more common, and the industry has been building new facilities for GPU-enhanced servers to serve the need for more AI. However, these powerful GPUs often consume over 500 Watts per single card, and NVIDIA's latest Blackwell B200 GPU has a TGP of 1000 Watts or a single kilowatt. These kilowatt GPUs will be present in data centers with 10s of thousands of cards, resulting in multi-megawatt facilities. To combat the load on the national electricity grid, US President Joe Biden's administration has been discussing with big tech to re-evaluate their power sources, possibly using smaller nuclear plants. According to an Axios interview with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, she has noted that "AI itself isn't a problem because AI could help to solve the problem." However, the problem is the load-bearing of the national electricity grid, which can't sustain the rapid expansion of the AI data centers.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has been reportedly talking with firms, most notably hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, to start considering nuclear fusion and fission power plants to satisfy the need for AI expansion. We have already discussed the plan by Microsoft to embed a nuclear reactor near its data center facility and help manage the load of thousands of GPUs running AI training/inference. However, this time, it is not just Microsoft. Other tech giants are reportedly thinking about nuclear as well. They all need to offload their AI expansion from the US national power grid and develop a nuclear solution. Nuclear power is a mere 20% of the US power sourcing, and DOE is currently financing a Holtec Palisades 800-MW electric nuclear generating station with $1.52 billion in funds for restoration and resumption of service. Microsoft is investing in a Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) microreactor energy strategy, which could be an example for other big tech companies to follow.
Source:
Axios
The Department of Energy (DOE) has been reportedly talking with firms, most notably hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, to start considering nuclear fusion and fission power plants to satisfy the need for AI expansion. We have already discussed the plan by Microsoft to embed a nuclear reactor near its data center facility and help manage the load of thousands of GPUs running AI training/inference. However, this time, it is not just Microsoft. Other tech giants are reportedly thinking about nuclear as well. They all need to offload their AI expansion from the US national power grid and develop a nuclear solution. Nuclear power is a mere 20% of the US power sourcing, and DOE is currently financing a Holtec Palisades 800-MW electric nuclear generating station with $1.52 billion in funds for restoration and resumption of service. Microsoft is investing in a Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) microreactor energy strategy, which could be an example for other big tech companies to follow.
98 Comments on US Government Wants Nuclear Plants to Offload AI Data Center Expansion
"It didn't have to be this way, but it is"
"Here, we fixed eveything"
"Not good enough. They are still ugly to look at"
"But we finally fixed contamination forever"
"I said they are gross. Take them back"
A country like the uk with a concerted effort, could provide its entire need of electricity by nuclear, with virtually no emissions, but the gov will not pull their finger out and make it happen.
A big problem is greedy oil producers making billions, that they don't want to stop doing till the wells have fumes in them. Every GOV make a shite ton of money from tax on fuel too, where are they going to make the same amount if the taps stopped.
Now seriously, you can pick whatever metric you want but realistically it's too late to stave off terrible consequences just like it was too late a decade ago, or two decades, or whatever timeframe you want to pick as far back as the industrial revolution. We can clearly see stuff like increased rate of respiratory illnesses even though the life expectancy is increasing with more and more medical advances, this without even going into all the wildlife and natural habitats lost, etc. People often focus on whatever point of no return climate scientist throw out that week but every day that we continue to emit above the so called net zero we're doing irreperable damage.
But what's the alternative, say fuck it and step on the gas towards an ever deeper and deeper cliff or try to create a parachute to slow down the descent while we figure out a way to climb back up again? No offense but anyone who chooses the first can go throw themselves off a cliff and let the rest of us work towards the second.
Nothing has been proven about concerns over it being wrong.... And it's damned foolish to not ask questions about it along the way.
The condition of the grid being one example of it is reality with rolling blackouts and all else that goes with it to this day. With all these "green" solutions supposedly already in place and working, don't you think things would have changed by now about all that if it was doing anything at all?
I'd think so because a solution, if it IS a solution fixes problems - But here we are with the same old crap still going on every day.
That's just FACT - Deny it all you want.
I have no problem with anything as long as the promises made over it are delivered, but so far that hasn't happened.
"Fixed Everything" is just bullshiite, there is no perfect solution to any of it no matter how you slice it and it's nothing more than a dream instead of reality as is.World wide is a term that pertains to the entire world - Not just a few, select countries having to bear the burden of it while all the rest do as they want to.
I guess they all think "If we stop it here - Problem solved" but I believe we all know that's not true. You've got places like China for example still doing whatever and I've yet to hear about any sort of protests about it in places like China.
That's probrably because they know what will happen if they start it "Over There".
Make sure you have some really dedicated volunteers to head on over and get it done - If they survive it.
Also:
I'm not going to deny the big oil guys aren't fighting it - They are.
Concerning big oil - It's already been proven as fact (Over 40 years ago no less) gas engines can be much more efficient with 2-3x the mileage per gallon and far less (Almost zero) pollutants too, but big oil will not let it happen.
Shoudn't take a genius to figure out the "Why" to that one.
I was referring to California, that sort of thing happens all the time out there. Remember when their gov was telling folks to NOT charge their EV cars because of the load that was already on the grid when he said not to?
That kind of stuff.
If you have an increased capacity to generate, that's one thing but it's useless if you can't deliver it.
If you can't deliver it, then why build all these things if you can't utilize what they are supposed to do and waste $$ in the process?
As some have said before, "Cart before the horse" mentality.... And isn't that what "Build Back Better" was supposed to solve?
So..... Where is the better out of it?
Or more accurately, where are the results of it?
So far, it's like looking for Waldo and no one has a clue where to look.
It's not a "cart before the horse", the same grid used with coal plants can be used with wind turbines, they're seperate issues. Now a real argument could be why not use some money to repair the grid before replacing power plants? Well, California is the 5th largest world economy, if they'd pull their heads out of their asses they could do both easily.
Either way this is very much an American problem not analogous to the majority of the developed world.
www.backtothefuture.store/products/back-to-the-future-flux-capacitor-prop-replica
problems solved ;) and I can go back to play Crysis 15 on my quantum computer with full featured realistic holographic visual experience :roll:
As for fixes not being perfect they are still fixes. I still don't get the state of mind of refusing anything but a silver bullet.
Yep well the utilities know where to run lines and transformers to now lol
All they need now is as many investors and equipment.. as the windmills and solar companies got
It really is like the field of dreams
They built it now they will eventually come with the wiring.... :pimp:
I'd say these windmills before painting them different colors were doing what you describe as extinguishing countless birds as well.
The largest difference in "sport hunting"
These people actually eat the birds after where as windmill killing fields are not so hope there are lots of snakes/... around to enjoy the slaughtered birds that were just traveling on their normal migratory paths so where is your outrage hehe
Habitat goes both ways as well so lol it's often called population expansion or job growth so pick your poison or live in an unpopulated cave somewhere deserted lol
Over here the promises of things being cheaper has gone the other way and the same old problems before are still here just as they were before these windmills and solar panels were introduced years ago as "The Solution".
Once again, it's reliant on the weather just to make it happen and that varies depending on where you are, not to mention the condition of the grid too.
I mean sure...
If you've got lots of wind all the time it makes sense to take advantage of it but you've missed the point that's not the case everywhere you go and that's something neither of us can control.
You're speaking of it the way you are because where you are it's been (According to your posts) "Good" but here, it's a different ballgame.
And don't give me the silver bullet analogy because I'm not buying it - Yes, there is no such thing as a "Perfect" fix which such a bullet would do (According to legend) but we need more than legends to make things better here. The core of it here is nothing is being fixed at all, bullet or otherwise so.....
Now - If you (As in YOU) could solve that problem over here we'd be better off and have no room to gripe about it.
It is what it is and no - I do not have to "Like" it.
Until something changes for the better here, my mind will not.
That's my say about it and that's it.
If you still want to carry on with it I'll happily let you argue back against other posts or a blank page because I've said what I've said and I stand behind it too.
I'm done here.Don Quixote would like to send an invite to you for hunting some evil windmills that have been rampaging across the countryside as of late.....
Plus, It has been well established that pollution significantly contributes to the prevalence of various types of cancer, particularly lung cancer. Therefore, striving to reduce pollution to mitigate the number of deaths associated with cancer is a compelling argument IMHO. It's crazy... in 2024, there are still people advocating for the generation of energy through coal combustion. :confused: