Google Plans Three 600 MW Nuclear Projects for Data Centers

• Google Plans Three 600 MW Nuclear Projects for Data Centers
• Xcel CEO Says AI Power Needs Boost Chances of New Big Nuclear
• China Approves 10 New Nuclear Reactors
• Mitsubishi Ramps Up Supply Chain with Plans for New Japanese Nuclear Reactors
• India Needs Tax Breaks And ‘Sustained Funding’ For New Nuclear Plants
• Committee Calls For World Bank Group To Support Nuclear Power
• Westinghouse-Bechtel Agreement Set to Support Poland’s First Nuclear Plant

Google Plans Three 600 MW Nuclear Projects for Data Centers

• Elementl Power and Google Sign Strategic Agreement to Develop Locations for Advanced Nuclear Projects

With the support of Google, Elementl is advancing its goal to bring more than 10 gigawatts online in the United States by 2035, working collaboratively with regulated utilities, independent power producers and technology suppliers. Google’s plan would total 1.8 GW of the total.

It isn’t clear whether “advanced” refers to new SMRs based on light water designs or various kinds of reactors based on a variety of advanced design approaches. Last October Google teamed up with Kairos to develop and deploy the firm’s advanced molten salt reactor to support the IT platform’s data centers. Google’s commitment under the deal is to buy power from Kairos nuclear reactors. This means that Kairos will build, own, operate, and sell power from the reactors to Google. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

Elementl Power Inc., says it is “a technology agnostic” advanced nuclear project developer and independent power producer. That’s a good approach to filing for early site permits with the NRC, but at some point the partners will have to choose a reactor vendor regardless of whether it is a light water or “advanced” design.

Elementl Power said in the signing of a strategic agreement with Google the plan is to preposition three project sites for advanced nuclear energy. The specifics of the projects, reactor design(s), locations, financing, etc., were not disclosed in the press release information.

Lots and Lots of Questions

A choice of 600 MW of nuclear power suggests twin 300 MW SMRs. Does the firm have vendor(s) in mind? For instance, two PWR type SMRs expected to produce 300 MW/unit that are headed for market are the GE Hitachi BWRX300 and the Westinghouse AP300. Holtec is also in the mix with its developing plans for a 300 MW PWR type SMR. Plus, NuScale is offering a 77 MW PWR type SMR and four of them would hit at 308 MW.

On the other hand, X-Energy is offering four of its 80 MW HTGRs (320 MW) to Dow to provide heat and power to a chemical manufacturing plant in Texas. Also, TerraPower’s Natrium advanced sodium cooled reactor, which comes in at 345MW, is be built in Wyoming to replace a coal-fired power plant.

In short, there are lots of options at the 300 MW power level where just two units would hit Google’s power requirement of 600 MW per site.

The timing of Google’s plans to have a power purchase agreement, or other financial arrangement, in place to draw power from SMRs matters. The roadmaps for all of the reactor projects noted above indicates the earliest any would be in revenue service is the end of this decade or early 2030s.

Google is clear it is interested in nuclear power. However, where the data center industry is going in 2025 its to locate its facilities near natural gas pipelines to promote building onsite, private wire gas fired power plants. Earlier this year Exxon and Chevron announced competing plans to build gas fired power plants for data centers. as producers of natural gas, this move beyond providing a commodity is a game changer. If these plants gain a hold on market share, every date center that takes its power from gas doesn’t have to wait, perhaps years, for SMRs to reach the market.

Locations of the power plants? The press statement does not indicate where the project is in terms of a site selection process for the three 600 MW power stations.

There are issues of financing include power purchase agreements, investor consortium, a mix? At 1,800 MW at $5,000/kw assuming manufacturing of SMRs in “fleet mode” this is a $9 billion project. Actual costs may be higher if the big IT platforms are early adopters of SMRs.

What are Google and Elementl Prepared to Do?

Timing of new construction. Will the partners in this deal start all three projects at once or phase them in based on data center demand?

As part of the agreement, Google will commit early-stage development capital to advance the development of three projects. Each project would generate at least 600 megawatts (MW) of power capacity, with the option for commercial off-take once complete. Together with Google, Elementl Power will work collaboratively with utility and regulated power partners to identify and advance new projects.

Elementl Power will continue the evaluation of potential technology, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and other project partners, while prioritizing specific sites for accelerated development.

Notes on Elementl’s Financing

In terms of investors, Elementl lists on its website that it is supported by Energy Impact Partners (EIP), a global investment firm dedicated to driving the transition toward a sustainable future. With over $4 billion in assets under management, EIP brings extensive industry expertise and strategic partnerships in both the energy and technology sectors.

Based on a review of the list of investments the firm has in its current portfolio, this is the second ‘nuclear’ project it has taken on. It also is an investor in Zap Energy which is developing a fusion power plant.

Taken together with its newly announced deal with Elementl related to Google’s plans for three 600 MW nuclear projects, these investments are signals the firm is comfortable with long investment horizons in the energy sector.

However, the difference here is that Elementl’s press statement only mentions the Energy Impact Partners as an investor. There are no other investors noted in the press statement.

This may be due to the fact that Google is also putting cash on the barrel head. Google is quoted in the press statement as saying it will commit early-stage development capital to advance the development of three projects.

By comparison, with regard to its investment in ZAP Energy for a fusion power plant, there are multiple partners sharing in the risk of the investment in the technology. Zap’s $130 million Series D was led by Soros Fund Management LLC, with participation by new investors that include BAM Elevate, Emerson Collective, Leitmotif, Mizuho Financial Group, Plynth Energy and Xplor Ventures. Current investors participating in the new round include Addition, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, DCVC, Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon Capital and Shell Ventures.

Sponsor Statements

“Innovative partnerships like this are necessary to mobilize the capital required to build new nuclear projects, which are critical to deliver safe, affordable and clean baseload power and help companies advance their long-term net zero goals,” said Elementl Power Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Colbert.

“We look forward to working with Google to execute these projects and bring safe, carbon-free, baseload electricity to the grid.”

“Google is committed to catalyzing projects that strengthen the power grids where we operate, and advanced nuclear technology provides reliable, baseload, 24/7 energy,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Global Head of Data Center Energy, Google.

“Our collaboration with Elementl Power enhances our ability to move at the speed required to meet this moment of AI and American innovation.” 

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Xcel CEO Says AI Power Needs Boost Chances of New Big Nuclear

The Bloomberg Wire Service reports that the CEO of Xcel, a Midwestern regional utility, says the needs of artificial intelligence for power will boost the chances for new construction of big nuclear power plants.

“I’m a unabashed fan of nuclear,” said Bob Frenzel, a former nuclear engineering officer in the US Navy who served aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. He spoke in an interview at Bloomberg News offices in New York.

“Nuclear is safe, it’s carbon free, it’s dispatchable, it’s reliable,” he said.

Frenzel said in his interview with Bloomberg that while power companies have expressed interest or announced pilot projects for small modular reactors (SMRs), support for opening new large-scale nuclear plants is much rarer — but that could start to change,

“Because of these large loads the data centers want, you will see people contemplate whether they build a large-scale nuclear reactor in this country,” Frenzel said in a separate interview on Bloomberg Televisision.

Significantly, Frenzel said Xcel isn’t currently actively considering building a new large reactor in its service territory. However, he does think the demand is there for someone to take it on despite the big scare the US industry got from the schedule delays and massive cost overruns for the twin Vogle AP1000s in Georgia.

“We have massive load growth, we have single assets that are talking about a thousand megawatts — Well, that’s one AP1000 unit,” he said, referring to the energy demand from a single data center and the model of a specific reactor.

“I think there’s a possibility that people look at the load growth and say, ‘I need to meet that with something that’s bigger than a 100 megawatt machine. I need a 1,000 megawatt machine.’”

Meanwhile, while Frenzel doesn’t plan to be the next CEO to sign up to build an AP1000, he does have a card to put on the table. Last January NextEra Energy filed a licensing change request for its Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This marks the first step toward seeking approval to restart the plant, which was taken out of service in 2020. The utility wants to serve Iowa’s booming data center industry.

The single-unit 615 MWe boiling water reactor plant was shut down after more than 45 years of operation. NextEra’s CEO said, “Nuclear power plants across the country are already serving existing demand and there are only a few nuclear plants that can be recommissioned in the near-term and in an economic way.”

In Michigan, Holtec is working on the restart of the Palisades nuclear power plant with long term plans to build twin 300 MW SMRs nearby.

In Pennsylvania Constellation is banking on a power purchase agreement with Microsoft for the power that would come from restarting TMI1.

While most other large nuclear reactors that have been taken out of service are too far along in being decommissioned to be restarted, their former sites have important assets that could be leveraged for new plants of any size.

These assets include a switchyard, grid access, and transportation infrastructure among other things. For instance, Holtec is working on a plan to build one or more SMRs at the former Oyster Creek reactor in New Jersey.

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China Approves 10 New Nuclear Reactors

(NucNet)  China’s State Council has approved 10 new commercial nuclear power reactors at a total cost of (€23 billion, $27 billion) On average that’s about $3 billion per plant. All of the reactors are full size at 1,100 or 1,200 MW each.

The approvals, on April 27th, are another vote of confidence for Beijing’s ambitious nuclear deployment plans to remain central to the nation’s clean energy transition. It is the fourth year in a row that China has approved at least 10 new reactors.

State-owned digital news outlet The Paper said the 10 approved units are at five sites.

It said the units are Fangchenggang-5 and -6 in southern China, Taishan-3 and -4, also in southern China, Sanmen-5 and -6 in eastern China, Haiyang-5 and -6 in northeastern China and Xiapu-1 and -2, southeast China.

All of the new projects are located at coastal sites. Except for Xiapu-1 and -2, all of the other new plants are being built at the sites of existing nuclear power stations. This means the switch yards, grid connections, and other key infrastructure elements are already in place along with a fully characterized site.

Roll Call of New Plants

World Nuclear News reported that China General Nuclear (CGN) announced it has received approval for Phase II (units 3 and 4) of its Taishan nuclear power plant in Guangdong province, as well as Phase III (units 5 and 6) at its Fangchenggang plant in China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region.

It said the four units will adopt its HPR1000 (Hualong One) pressurized water reactor technology. Taishan 3 and 4 will each have a capacity of 1200 MWe, while Fangchenggang 5 and 6 will have a capacity of 1208 MWe.

The construction of two Hualong One units has also been approved at the Xiapu site in Fujian province as a joint project between CNNC and Huaneng Power International. Two CFR-600 sodium-cooled pool-type fast-neutron reactors are currently under construction at the Xiapu site.

The State Council also approved the construction of two CAP1000 reactors – the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 – as units 5 and 6 at the Haiyang site in Shandong province in a project led by State Power Investment Corporation. The site already hosts two AP1000 units, and two CAP1000 units are under construction.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), China has 57 commercial nuclear power plants in operation and 10 under construction. In 2023, the nuclear fleet’s share of electricity production was 4.8%.

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Mitsubishi Heavy Ramps Up Supply Chain for New Japanese Nuclear Reactors

• Industrial group prepares for its light-water model to hit market next decade

(Asia.Nikkei) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is reported to be in discussions with over 200 part suppliers with the goal of replacing nuclear reactors in Japan with a more advanced model. The Japanese industrial group is currently developing an advanced light-water reactor it aims to bring to market in the 2030s. Ramping up the supply chain now is a clear signal the conglomerate is confident orders will come for new reactors.

According to the World Nuclear Association,in September 2022 MHI announced a conceptual design for an advanced 1200 MWe PWR called SRZ-1200.

It is being developed in cooperation with Kansai Electric Power, Kyushu Electric Power, Hokkaido Electric Power, and Shikoku Electric Power. MHI said that the design will aim to “enhance operational flexibility” to work alongside “variable electric power sources” like solar and wind. The consortium aims to commercialize the design by the mid-2030s.

MHI is providing suppliers with briefings on the specifications of the new design and has asked for written confirmation on whether they can deliver the necessary components. The suppliers contacted have advanced technology specific to nuclear plants, such as the production of large forged parts and safety valves. There are roughly 400 companies in Japan that supply nuclear power equipment. A nuclear reactor can be sourced almost entirely in Japan.

Japan’s latest basic energy plan aims to replace decommissioned reactors in existing plants with next generation reactors. It is expected that light water reactor designs will be the main choice for the new plants. Due to the Fukushima disaster, innovation in new reactors came to a halt and has to be restarted for the firm to be competitive.

Outlook for New Nuclear in Japan

Japan has two 1,380 MW ABWR plants that were under construction prior to the 2011 disaster and which are expected to be completed by the end of this decade. The plants are Shimane 3 and Ohma 1.

Ohma would be the first Japanese reactor built to run solely on mixed oxide (MOX) fuel incorporating recycled plutonium. It would be able to consume a quarter of all domestically-produced MOX fuel and hence make a major contribution to Japan’s ‘pluthermal’ policy of recycling plutonium recovered from used fuel.

Japan has eight plants that are planned but not yet approved for construction. All eight are ABWRs in the power range of 1,300 to 1,500 MW. These are paper plans with no firm schedules for construction. Mitsubishi Heavy is positioning itself to be a recipient of construction orders if and when they come to reality. Some of these ABWRs might be swapped out for MHI’s PWR design.

The Japanese government has blown hot and cold on its plans for new nuclear power plants and also for setting a target for the total amount of energy the highly industrialized nation will need in future decades.

In its profile of Japan’s nuclear energy sector, the World Nuclear Association reports that in October 2021 the cabinet approved the new Plan for Electricity Generation to 2030 prepared by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) and an advisory committee, following public consultation. The nuclear target for 2030 of 20-22% is unchanged from that in the 2015 plan, but renewables increase greatly to 36-38%, including geothermal and hydro. Hydrogen and ammonia are included at 1%.

The plan would require the restart of another ten reactors. So far 14 reactors have restarted. 11 reactors are currently in the process of restart approval.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in July 2022 announced that the country should consider building advanced reactors and extending operating licenses beyond 60 years, as well as expediting the restart of nuclear reactors. Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency has emphasized the need to protect all of Japan’s reactors from natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunami and has rejected the government’s requests for “expedited” approvals of restarts.

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India Needs Tax Breaks And ‘Sustained Funding’ For New Nuclear Plants

(NucNet) Manohar Lal Khattar, the country’s power minister, told an advisory committee to the government that India needs to implement tax breaks, secure sustained funding, including foreign direct investment, and establish varied uranium fuel supply chains as it bids to accelerate the completion of nuclear projects.

He told the committee that India must accelerate the execution of nuclear power projects to meet rising energy demands and its net-zero commitments. The committee as met to discuss steps needed to meet the country’s ambitious target of a more than 10-fold increase in its nuclear energy capacity to 100 GW (100,000 MW) by 2047.

According to government data, India operates 25 commercial nuclear reactors with a total installed capacity of 8,880 MW, contributing about 3% to the country’s electricity generation.

India is bullish on nuclear power to meet its rising energy demand without compromising on its net-zero commitments. State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) said recently that India plans to add 18 more nuclear reactors to its national energy mix by 2031-32, bringing the total nuclear power capacity of the country to more than 22,000 MW.

The country is currently building a fleet of 10 700 MW PHWRs and has plans to build dozens of 220 MW PHWR type SMRs. By the end of the decade Rosatom will have completed six 1,000 MW VVER reactors at Kudankulam in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The government recently proposed to allow private Indian companies to build nuclear plants. Steel mills and other energy intensive industries could make deal for specific nuclear power projects. It could also allow foreign companies to take stakes of up to 49% in its nuclear power projects and India plans to ease its nuclear liability laws to cap accident-related penalties on equipment suppliers.

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Committee Calls For World Bank Group To Support Nuclear Power

• Long-standing policy against funding reactor projects could be reversed
• The Washington-based World Bank Group funds fossil fuel and renewable power projects, but has a ban on funding nuclear.

(NucNet) The World Bank Group is considering support for nuclear energy as part of a broader push to expand access to affordable and reliable energy, potentially ending a ban that has been labelled “unjustified” by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi.

At its April meeting, the bank’s development committee urged the World Bank Group – five international organizations that make loans to developing countries – to explore “further options for increased affordable and reliable energy access, including potential support for nuclear energy.”

The five organizations are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

In a statement the committee said: “We call on the World Bank Group to work with the African Development Bank, regional clients, and other partners to deliver on the promise of Mission 300 to provide reliable energy access to 300 million Africans by the end of the decade.”

Last month the head of the World Bank Group said he had asked the lender’s board to reverse its long-standing policy against funding nuclear power projects, saying the technology offers a green option for poor countries.

World Bank Group president Ajay Banga said, “The good news is the board has come together and said they’re willing to discuss” the change. He said he expects the move to be included in a broader energy policy proposal expected in June 2026.

Small Nuclear Reactors ‘Could Be Transformative’

“Small nuclear reactors could be transformative,” Banga said in an interview with US private equity billionaire David Rubenstein at the Economic Club of Washington.

The World Bank policy reform proposal will seek to encompass all kinds of affordable and accessible energy, Banga said, including natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, hydropower and others.

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Westinghouse-Bechtel Agreement Set to Support Poland’s First Nuclear Plant

The Westinghouse-Bechtel consortium and Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ) announced the signing of an Engineering Development Agreement (EDA). The agreement marks the next step in advancing the three-unit AP1000 project in Choczewo,

The EDA sets the framework for critical preparatory efforts, including site development, regulatory documentation, and geological studies, which are needed to secure permits and maintain momentum toward construction. The EDA will remain in effect until the execution of the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) agreement, targeted for the end of 2025.

The project will deliver energy independence and long-term economic benefits in Poland by creating highly-skilled jobs and expanding opportunities for Polish businesses to participate in the nuclear supply chain. The consortium has prioritized local hiring and supplier engagement, hosting seven supplier symposia reaching more than 700 subcontractors across Poland. It will also create or sustain tens of thousands of jobs in the United States in manufacturing and engineering.

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