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Google is getting in on the quest for nuclear power. And it might have major implications for the future of renewable energy production.
What’s happening:
- Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has officially entered into an agreement to purchase power from nuclear energy startup Kairos Power that will be generated from a fleet of their small modular nuclear reactors
Why it matters:
- Large technology companies such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have been making waves from inking new deals with nuclear energy companies as a way to power their data centres and cloud computing businesses
- Google has publicly stated their intent to be running all of their operations with carbon free power by next decade, which would likely require them to meaningfully ramp up their adoption of nuclear energy in order to accomplish
By the numbers:
- Google anticipates that Kairos Power’s small modular nuclear reactors will add 500 megawatts of power to the grid once their entire fleet is operational
Going deeper:
- New nuclear power projects in North America are going to lead to a massive surge in demand for uranium, which is a large reason why The United States Department of Energy previously made a multi billion dollar funding commitment for domestic sources of uranium supply
- Publicly listed uranium producers in the United States of America have also been making new acquisitions to begin scaling up their capacity to supply new nuclear power projects, with Uranium Energy (NYSE: UEC) notably acquiring Rio Tinto’s (NYSE: RIO) fully licensed uranium production facility located in Wyoming
The fine print:
- Currently, there are zero operational small modular reactors in the United States of America and it is unclear when exactly Kairos Power will have their fleet of small modular reactors capable of actually providing zero carbon electricity to Google
