by Lawrence Kadish
Will AI demand for electrical energy push us back into nuclear power?
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| A reactor unit in the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania is now scheduled, pending regulatory review, to reopen by the end of this decade, with all the power purchased exclusively by Microsoft for its AI data-centers. It is, in a word, brilliant, and reflects what the American business sector can still do when faced with a challenge and unhindered by the Washington bureaucracy. Pictured: The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, near Middletown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) |
There is no small irony that Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to mock the Biden Administration's "green energy" policies and its flawed decision to rely on wind and solar as our nation's future sources of essential electricity.
Consider: The exponential growth of AI is now powering the next generation of innovations that range from spacecraft to speech, and it is creating an enormous demand for energy to run the servers that drive this technology. Fortune believes that AI electricity requirements could consume as much as a quarter of all electrical power in the United States within six years. That is a mind-boggling amount of electricity, and it comes at the expense of every other industrial sector as well as our residential requirements. There is just so much electrical power generated in the United States to go around.
The opposite side of that coin is if American AI innovators cannot access the needed power to operate their data centers, we will have no choice but to cede our nation's AI leadership to those countries fully prepared to do what they must to dominate this field.
Like China.
To be clear, the competition to take the lead in AI will make the Cold War space race competition look like a JV touch football game.
All of this comes at a time when the White House will have us believe that the pathway to the future lies in electricity generated by wind and solar. Even the most optimistic estimates say that those sources cannot meet America's immediate or long-term energy requirements, despite billions in federal subsidies.
One response comes from an AI leader that wants to ensure it can be in the vanguard of innovation in this crucial area: Microsoft.
In a decision that must be driving Progressive "greens" to distraction, a reactor unit in the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania is now scheduled, pending regulatory review, to reopen by the end of this decade. That repowering is being pursued by Microsoft with a 20-year deal with the plant's owner, ensuring that all the power from this nuclear plant will be going exclusively to Microsoft and its AI data-centers. It is, in a word, brilliant, and reflects what the American business sector can still do when faced with a challenge and unhindered by a Washington bureaucracy that is more intent on paperwork than progress and is dedicated to subsidizing green programs that are unlikely to enhance, strengthen or protect our energy future.
In addition to powering Microsoft's commitment to lead on AI, the repowering of Three Mile Island is expected to create approximately 3,400 jobs while generating more than $3 billion in state and federal tax revenues.
Note to Biden's Washington: This is how America can preserve its leadership in a technology that may well determine which country leads the 21st Century. Just get out of the way.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21016/america-technological-leadership
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