Google is exploring nuclear power to meet the high energy demands of artificial intelligence projects, CEO Sundar Pichai has confirmed, following similar moves by Amazon and Microsoft.
Pichai said Google’s data centers could be powered by electricity generated at nuclear power plants as the company strives to balance AI energy demand and its “very ambitious” zero-emissions target by 2030.
While reaffirming Google's commitment to this goal in an interview with Nikkei, Pichai acknowledged that “the scale of the task has grown" due to the increasing investment in AI technologies.
"We are now looking at additional investments, be it solar [or thermal power], and evaluating technologies like small modular nuclear reactors,” Pichai said.
In 2023, Google’s total greenhouse gas emissions were 48% higher than 2019, according to Nikkei, largely because generative AI consumes massive amounts of electricity.
Some estimates show that the real emissions from data centers owned by Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple could be as much as 662% – or almost eight times – higher than official reports indicate.
Tech companies and governments face growing opposition to new data centers over environmental concerns. Recent efforts in Japan and the UK have seen local residents and authorities push back against construction plans.
In Pennsylvania, energy companies American Electric Power (AEP) and Exelon have opposed a proposed Amazon data center, claiming it would not pay its fair share of transmission fees.
Pichai's comments come after it was announced in September that Microsoft would source electricity from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, the site of the worst nuclear incident in US history after a partial meltdown in 1979.
Amazon signed its own $650 million agreement to develop a nuclear-powered center in Pennsylvania in March.
US data center power consumption is projected to triple between 2023 and 2030, requiring approximately 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity, according to Goldman Sachs. The gap is expected to be filled by natural gas, wind, and solar power.
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