TerraPower is the nuclear energy company founded by former Microsoft CEO and co-founder Bill Gates. It just announced that it has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a major U.S. data center developer to deploy advanced nuclear reactors to power existing and future facilities.
     On January 21st, TerraPower said it will collaborate with Sabey Data Centers (SDC) on “a strategic collaboration agreement to leverage advanced nuclear Natrium plants into SDC’s current and future data center operations.” Last year, TerraPower broke ground on the first U.S. advanced nuclear project, located near PacifiCorp’s Naughton Power Plant in Wyoming. The Naughton plant will stop burning coal in 2026. It will stop its use of natural gas within the next decade. In a press release, TerraPower said the venture will explore building new Natrium plants in the Rocky Mountain region, and Texas, “to support growing power needs for SDC-owned data centers.”
     Bill Gates told the audience at last year’s groundbreaking in Wyoming that they were “standing on what will soon be the bedrock of America’s energy future … this is a big step toward safe, abundant, zero-carbon energy, and it’s important for the future of this country that projects like this succeed.”
     Chris Levesque is TerraPower president and CEO. He said, “At its heart, TerraPower is an innovation-driven company, and we are thrilled to collaborate with Sabey to address the surging energy demands of data centers with clean, reliable and adaptable solutions like the Natrium technology. The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace after decades of business as usual, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries. Together, we can ensure advanced nuclear technology plays a vital role in securing a clean, resilient energy grid.”
     The two companies said that they “will explore multiple project execution structures to meet the exponential demand in data center energy needs with TerraPower’s innovative advanced nuclear + storage Natrium technology.”
    The Natrium system features a three hundred forty-five-megawatt reactor and can be optimized for specific markets. Its innovative thermal storage has the potential to boost the system’s output to five hundred megawatts of power for more than five and a half hours when needed.
     Several technology companies are looking at nuclear power as a viable option to provide electricity for their energy-intensive date centers operations. Microsoft signed a deal last September to help restart a retired reactor at Three Mile Island. Google and Amazon have also announced plans to aid the development of advanced reactors to power their data centers.
     Tim Mirick is the president of SDC. He said, “Sabey Data Centers is dedicated to pioneering sustainable energy solutions to support our customers’ growth. Our strategic collaboration with TerraPower represents a substantial move toward integrating clean, innovative power technologies into the heart of our operations.”
     Jeffrey Kanne is the vice chairman of SDC and president and CEO of National Real Estate Advisors. He said, “This strategic relationship exemplifies the forward-thinking collaboration necessary to meet the evolving energy demands of our digital future.”
     Nuclear industry experts have said the rise of artificial intelligence and data centers is projected to increase U.S. electricity demand by three hundred and twenty-three terawatts by 2030.

TerraPower