Seeking Nuclear Partners for AI Future: Meta Releases RFP for SMRs, Advanced Reactors

Artificial intelligence and its rising dominance in data centers of the future are both a real opportunity and challenge for tech companies such as Facebook parent Meta Inc., so they must “react” proactively to find options for new energy.

This AI and cloud-based capacity expansion is pushing tech giants to shift from purely renewables, to trumpeting their newly forged commitment to nuclear energy as a means of intersecting power resiliency with greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

Meta announced this week it has released a request for proposals (RFP) to seek nuclear energy developers who can help identify power generation to meet the future of AI and cloud capacity. Meta’s release follows a brief strategy report by online retail giant Amazon earlier this week highlighting its belief in future nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors (SMR).

“Supporting the development of clean energy must continue to be a priority as electric grids expand to accommodate growing energy needs,” reads the release announcing the RFP. “At Meta, we believe nuclear energy will play a pivotal role in the transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and diversified electric grid.”

Nuclear is unique among power generation fuel resources in that reactors can operate at a constant high rate of capacity while also not emitting any carbon dioxide. New firms are working toward eventual operations and commercialization of SMR nuclear plants, which are smaller, less expensive and more standardized than the current massive conventional reactor plants such as Vogtle in Georgia. The Vogtle Units 3 and 4 expansion cost more than $32 billion to build, complete and commission.

Companies that are willing to file a proposal for Meta have until Feb. 7 to do so. They must also comply with a mutual non-disclosure agreement to be considered among the RFPs.

“We are seeking developers with strong community engagement, permitting and execution expertise that have development opportunities for new nuclear energy resources – either small modular reactors or larger nuclear reactors,” reads the Meta nuclear RFP.

Earlier this week, Amazon celebrated World Nuclear Energy Day with a report outlining its seven strategies for future connection to SMRs and other reactor technologies.

Utility-scale and advanced nuclear power generation is “a critical energy source that can be brought online at scale and has a decades-long record as a reliable source of safe, carbon-free energy around the world,” reads the Amazon release. “We’re helping develop new technology, investing in existing nuclear reactors, and supporting research on topics like nuclear fusion.”

Among the other tech giants, such companies as Microsoft, Oracle and Google have expressed sustained interest and willingness to invest in supporting new nuclear capacity to deal with the anticipated energy demands of AI and hyperscale cloud-based data center construction. Some forecasts are predicting more than 50 GW of new data center construction coming online by the state of the 2030s.

Meta itself is seeking RFPs for between 1 and 4 GW of new nuclear generation capacity in the U.S. to support the AI demand trajectory by 2032.

“Compared to renewable energy projects that we continue to invest in, such as solar and wind, nuclear energy projects are more capital intensive, take longer to develop, are subject to more regulatory requirements, and have a longer expected operational life,” reads the Meta release announcing the RFP. “These differences mean we need to engage nuclear energy projects earlier in their development lifecycle and consider their operational requirements when designing a contract.”

Conventional nuclear power plants, including more than 90 units across the U.S., generate close to 19% of total utility-scale electricity in the nation, according to the Federal Energy Information Administration. Those nuclear plants also deliver at least half of the carbon-free power generated in the U.S.

SMR technologies have earned some regulatory approvals on designs going forward, but none have started construction in the U.S. yet. Many industry experts warn that physical, operational SMRs probably won’t be online until the 2030s.

The data center industry, however, says it can wait a little longer to ensure carbon-free, baseload power for the AI revolution.

Due to coal-fired plant retirements, the success of energy efficiency efforts, and the rise in distributed energy resources, many U.S. utilities have predicted flat load growth since the late 2010s. This short-term outlook has provoked data center customers who are concerned about the utility sector's ability to meet future demand. 

Knowing that intermittent renewables such as wind and solar cannot provide reliable backup power for data centers, the industry is reaching out to the nuclear energy sector. Microsoft recently signed on to a long-term power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy, which can help invest in restarting the Three Mile Island Unit 1 that was closed in Pennsylvania several years ago.

TMI Unit 1 is not the reactor unit that had a partial meltdown and was shuttered decades ago.

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