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The Deep Atomic (DA) MK60 small modular reactor (SMR) design has been developed specifically to provide power and cooling to data centers.
The MK60 is a light water SMR incorporating multiple passive safety systems. DA states that it is “compact, scalable, and built on a foundation of proven technology”. Each unit generates up to sixty megawatts and provides an additional sixty megawatts of cooling capacity through its “integrated data center-centric design approach”.
DA is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It says that the reactor is well-suited to various types of data centers, including those supporting traditional cloud services, cryptocurrency operations, and AI applications.
William Theron is the founder of DA and CEO. He says, “Data centers are the backbone of digital innovation, but their massive energy needs have become the critical bottleneck blocking growth.”
The MK60 is said to offer data center operators a scalable power solution that can be deployed in various locations, including areas with limited grid access. The reactor can be sited closer to urban areas due to its advanced safety features.
Theron said, “It's designed to be installed on-site at data centers, delivering reliable zero-carbon electricity and energy-efficient cooling, thereby significantly reducing carbon footprints, and helping data centers meet their increasingly stringent sustainability goals.”.
Freddy Mondale is the Head of Engineering for DA. He noted that many areas were struggling to provide the amounts of power that new data centers require. “Our on-site reactors bypass these grid limitations, allowing data centers to be built in optimal locations without straining existing infrastructure.”
Mondale says that a sixty megawatts reactor with additional sixty megawatts of cooling capacity “hits a sweet spot for data centers. It's large enough to power significant compute infrastructure, yet small enough to allow for modular deployment and scaling”.
Mondale added that “The MK60 can be deployed in multiples, allowing scalability from 60 MW up to over 1 GW to meet growing energy demands.”
DA says it has already begun dialogues with regulators and potential customers as it moves forward with development. The company is seeking partnerships with data center operators and other investors who are “looking towards the future of sustainable digital infrastructure”.
DA’s announcement of the MK60 follows several announcements by global tech giants related to nuclear energy.
Microsoft announced last September that it had signed a twenty-year power purchase agreement with Constellation that will see the restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1. Google announced last week it had agreed to purchase energy from Kairos Power in a deal that would support the first commercial deployment of its fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature advanced SMRs by 2030 and aim for a fleet totaling five hundred megawatts of capacity by 2035. The following day, Amazon announced a series of agreements in which it will acquire a stake in advanced nuclear reactor developer X-energy and roll out its Xe-100 advanced SMR initially at a project in Washington State.
Meanwhile, the head of Japanese cloud-based gaming services provider Ubitus KK has said that it is planning to build a new data center and is specifically looking at areas with nearby nuclear power plants to provide the required power.