AI, climate power move to nuclear energy
Artificial intelligence is hungry for energy.
By some estimates, at current growth rates, AI alone could demand 85 terawatts hours of electricity every year. According to NBC News, that is more than many entire small nations consume.
At the same time, the global community is concerned about the climate and the use of fossil fuels, thought to increase to carbon levels and drive the warming of the planet.
The two gigantic forces are meeting at the junction of nuclear energy.
Attitudes toward nuclear energy are changing. According to Pew Research, support of nuclear power has increased among Americans, with 57 percent favoring more nuclear power plants to generate electricity — up from 43 percent in 2020.
According to Charles Oppenheimer, grandson of the Manhattan Project's J. Robert Oppenheimer, Uranium 235 contains exponentially more entergy coal or oil and so can be 'scaled at an industrial level, globally." Writing for Time Magazine in 2023, Oppenheimer said that the safety record of nuclear power demonstrates that it's also the safest source of energy.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is trying to build a small nuclear reactor in Idaho and two more in Ohio to power AI. Named Aurora, the reactor would look more like a ski chalet than the sinister funnel-shaped concrete reactors that most of us think of. Altman intends for his nuclear power startup, Oklo, to execute the project.
But even though the image of nuclear power is evolving, it hasn't yet changed anything on the ground. Nuclear power makes up about 19 percent of the nation's overall energy generation. About 93 power reactors are operating today, down from 112 in 1990, according to NBC News.
