LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #796, Wednesday, (10/30/2024)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Oct 30, 2024

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Oklo CEO wants to make clean nuclear energy more accessible

LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Wednesday, (10/30/2024)

I love the opening paragraph in this article from “NPR” . . . It echoes my own thoughts and concerns exactly. And then there is the 2nd article I have added on to this one today that makes one wonder if ‘Big Tech’ and their “AI” want to power-up the new style SMRs (Small Modular Reactors), not with the limited typical 5% nuclear fuel of the past, but with up to 20% nuclear fuel, or, in other words, nuclear bomb power potential. Apparently technical data corporations have lost control of their sanity, or AI has already taken over . . . ~llaw

Article 1: (from the Article: Why does this sound like the plot to some end of the world movie where AI and nuclear power get together?

Tech companies look to renewable energy to power AI

NPR

By Dara Kerr,

A Martínez

Published October 29, 2024 at 3:28 AM MDT

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

There is an arms race for artificial intelligence. Every major tech company is working on it. The downside? Well, AI uses a lot of energy, far more than your typical web search. Now some companies are planning to bring back a surprising source of energy – nuclear power. NPR tech reporter Dara Kerr is here to talk about it. Dara, why does this sound like the plot to some end of the world movie where AI and nuclear power get together?

DARA KERR, BYLINE: Yes, this is about AI’s energy usage, and all the companies are working on AI right now, and it just eats up power. For example, a ChatGPT query uses about 10 times as much energy as a Google search. And that energy mostly comes from traditional power plants, which, as we know, are highly polluting. And they release greenhouse gases into the air. So the tech companies are looking at alternative power sources to help fuel their AI. Earlier this month, Amazon and Google both announced they’re investing in small nuclear reactors. And another big tech company, Microsoft, says it’s planning to revive Three Mile Island. You remember Three Mile Island, right? It’s that power plant in Pennsylvania that infamously had a partial meltdown in the ’70s.

MARTÍNEZ: I do remember Three Mile Island. Wow. So why are they doing this?

KERR: All of the tech companies say they’re doing this to help meet their climate goals. All of the top five tech companies have the ambitious goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030. That includes Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook parent Meta. So nuclear energy doesn’t release greenhouse gases. It also doesn’t burn fossil fuels like coal and gas, and fossil fuels are the primary driver of climate change. And unlike other renewable energies such as wind and solar, nuclear delivers a lot of energy all of the time. And that’s important to these companies who need huge amounts of power 24/7 to feed their AI.

MARTÍNEZ: So it sounds like a good thing for addressing climate change. I mean, how long will all this take?

KERR: That’s the thing, A. It’s expected to take at least a decade or even more. Building nuclear reactors or reviving old ones like Three Mile Island is expensive and time-consuming. They’re heavily regulated to ensure safety, and that means everything takes a while. And these small, modular power plants that Amazon and Google are looking at are really a different kind of technology. We don’t have any operating in the U.S. yet. I spoke to Ivy Main, who’s been researching the energy usage of data centers for years. She says she’s skeptical of these companies’ plans.

IVY MAIN: One of the problems here is that the demand is now. And these small, modular reactors, assuming they pan out, are 10 years from now. So this is a situation of, I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

KERR: Main says a fix for AI energy consumption needs to come now, not in several years.

MARTÍNEZ: I love the Wimpy reference from the Popeye cartoons. Now, you know, in the meantime, are tech companies looking at other types of renewable energy?

KERR: Yes. So all of the major tech companies use solar and wind power in at least some of their data centers, but solar and wind aren’t reliable 24/7. They’re also looking at other types of renewables. Google, for example, is working with a startup in Nevada that uses geothermal heat as an energy source. But a lot of these companies’ climate change commitments came before the AI boom. Both Google and Microsoft say their emissions have skyrocketed over the last couple of years, and they attribute that specifically to AI. And that’s the tension, A. These data centers that fuel AI are creating a lot of pollution right now, and the proposed solutions are years on the horizon.

MARTÍNEZ: That’s NPR’s Dara Kerr. Thank you very much.

KERR: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE AMERICAN ANALOG SET “(THEME FROM) EVERYTHING ENDS”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Dara Kerr

Dara Kerr is a tech reporter for NPR. She examines the choices tech companies make and the influence they wield over our lives and society.

A Martínez

A Martínez is one of the hosts of Morning Edition and Up First. He came to NPR in 2021 and is based out of NPR West.

Article 2: (Whoever said nuclear fuel is “clean” doesn’t have a clue. It is the most dirty and dangerous fuel on planet Earth. It is the stuff of nuclear bombs . . . llaw)

Yahoo Finance - Yahoo Finance Logo - CleanPNG / KissPNG

Oklo CEO wants to make clean nuclear energy more accessible

Oklo CEO wants to make clean nuclear energy more accessible

Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton

Tue, October 29, 2024 at 1:47 PM PDT

Energy and power grid constraints look to be the biggest hurdles for Big Tech to overcome in the industry’s wider buildout of AI data center infrastructure. Tech players have begun investing in nuclear energy developers to find the clean energy output needed to power these expansions.

Oklo Inc. (OKLO) is one of these names benefitting from the trend, its stock having jumped nearly 200% over the past month. The nuclear startup is backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is also Oklo’s chairman.

Oklo Co-Founder and CEO Jake DeWitte joins Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton on Market Domination to talk about the long-term investments in small modular reactors (SMR) and the intricacies of these systems; Oklo doesn’t expect to finish building its first SMR and producing power from it until 2027.

“When you split an atom, you get almost 50 million-times more energy than when you combust like a molecule of natural gas or so. It’s incredible,” DeWitte tells Yahoo Finance. “What that means, then, is there’s a lot of energy in nuclear fuel. And actually in almost all reactors, you only use about 5% of the fuel in one pass through the reactor. And there’s reasons why long story short, is you could put more fuel in, it could run for longer. But that comes at increased cost for the added systems you would need to manage all that.”

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told Yahoo Finance that her department’s focus will be on ensuring these AI data centers are powered by clean energy, while understanding the challenge in widespread SMR adoption: “Nobody wants to be the one to buy the first one.”

Oklo has already inked energy partnerships with date center providersw Equinix (EQIX) and Wyoming Hyperscale. DeWitte describes the regular business model for nuclear systems as “clunky.”

“One of the things that we set out to do in the beginning was, was make it easier to buy what people really want from nuclear systems, in other words, make it easier to buy nuclear power because the clean, reliable, affordable power, that’s the stuff people really want,” DeWitte explains.

“We’re unique because we actually make that easy — we design, we own, we operate the plants, we contract someone to build them, and then we just sell the power out to the customers through off-take agreements. That makes it easy for them to buy what they want.”

For more coverage on Big Tech’s adoption of nuclear energy, catch Yahoo Finance’s respective interviews with X-energy CEO Clay Sell about Amazon’s (AMZN) investment into the nuclear reactor designer and Kairos Power Co-Founder and CEO Mike Laufer’s input on the nuclear startup’s partnership with Alphabet’s Google (GOOGGOOGL).


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TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Wednesday, (10/30/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Meet America’s secret team of nuclear first responders – NPR

NPR

NEST has always kept a low profile, partially because almost everything it does related to nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism is classified, but …

Tech companies look to renewable energy to power AI – KSJD

KSJD

All Streams. Home · About · KSJD · Sunflower Theatre · Community Radio … There’s been a lot of talk about nuclear, but those projects are years …

Oklo CEO wants to make clean nuclear energy more accessible – Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance

… nuclear fuel. And actually in almost all reactors, you only use about 5% of the fuel in one pass through the reactor. And there’s reasons why long …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

At Three Mile Island, a Test of Nuclear Power’s Promise – The New York Times

The New York Times

The Pennsylvania plant, site of the worst U.S. nuclear energy accident, is at the forefront of efforts to expand nuclear capacity to meet rising …

Czech watchdog prohibits nuclear power contract signing amid appeals – Reuters

Reuters

The Czechs plan to use the new nuclear power units, together with small modular reactors and renewable sources, to replace a fleet of coal-fired …

Tech companies are showing a new, strong interest in nuclear power. Here’s why.

Atlantic Council

Earlier this month, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google announced partnerships and investments in advanced nuclear reactor developers.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Explained: What Is US Financial Emergency That SpaceX Founder Elon Musk Is Talking About

ETV Bharat

… emergencies separately. Under Article 352, if … Explained: How Navy’s 4th NuclearPowered Submarine Launch Enhances India’s Strategic Sea Power.

Troops join emergency responders in search for missing after flash floods in Valencia, Spain

Explore SE Iowa

More than 1,000 troops had been deployed to the province to help with the emergency response, the Military Emergencies … nuclear power plant · Explore …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin Holds Strategic Nuclear Drills Days Before US Election – Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw strategic nuclear drills a week before the US presidential election, boasting of improved capabilities …

Investigating the Climate Impacts of Nuclear War | National Security Archive

National Security Archive – The George Washington University

UPDATESee the original June 2, 2022, posting below this updateWashington, D.C., October 30, 2024 – A 1983 study from scientists at the Department …

Russia fires missiles to simulate ‘massive’ response to a nuclear attack – CNA

CNA

MOSCOW: Russia test-fired missiles over distances of thousands of miles on Tuesday (Oct 29) to simulate a “massive” nuclear response to an enemy …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia’s Putin launches drill of nuclear forces simulating strikes – Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

“Given the growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is important to have modern and constantly ready-to- …

Russia Simulates ‘Massive’ Nuclear Response to Enemy Attack – The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times

“In light of rising geopolitical tensions and emerging external threats, it is essential to have modern and combat-ready strategic forces,” the …

Russia fires missiles to simulate ‘massive’ response to a nuclear attack

South China Morning Post

… nuclear response to an enemy first strike. Advertisement. “Given the growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks 

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Often overlooked, West Thumb Geyser Basin is one of Yellowstone’s most scenic spaces

Idaho Capital Sun

The caldera is relatively small by Yellowstone standards and is nested within the much larger 47 x 29 miles, 631,000-year-old Yellowstone Caldera.

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