Microsoft believes next-generation nuclear reactors can power its data center and AI ambitions, according to a job listing for the chief program manager who will lead the company’s nuclear energy strategy.
Data centers already use a lot of electricity, which could hinder the company’s climate goals if it can’t find clean energy sources. Energy-intensive AI makes this even more of a challenge for the company. Artificial intelligence dominated Microsoft’s Surface event last week.
Nuclear energy does not create greenhouse gas emissions. Regardless, it could also open up a whole new can of worms when it comes to dealing with radioactive waste and building the uranium supply chain. The role that nuclear power should play in the fight against climate change is still hotly debated, but Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has long been a big fan of the technology.
Based on the new job listing, it looks like Microsoft is betting on advanced nuclear reactors as the answer. The job posting said it would hire someone to “lead design initiatives for all aspects of nuclear power infrastructure for global growth.”
Microsoft is specifically looking for someone who can deploy the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plan. All the excitement surrounding nuclear energy today is related to new generation reactors. Unlike their older, much larger predecessors, these modular reactors should be lighter and cheaper to build. By comparison, the last major nuclear reactor built in the U.S. finally went live this summer about $17 billion over budget after seven years of delays.
Just in January, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified the SMR design for the first time, allowing utilities to choose a design when applying for a license for a new power plant. And this could open a completely new chapter for nuclear energy.
Even so, there are still kinks that need to be addressed if Microsoft wants to rely on SMR to power the data centers where its cloud and AI lives. The SMR requires more highly enriched uranium fuel, called HALEU, than today’s conventional reactors. Until now, Russia was the main global supplier of HALEU. In the US, there is a push to create a domestic supply chain for uranium, something communities near uranium mines and plants are already fighting against. In addition, there is the question of what to do with nuclear waste, which even an entire SMR fleet can generate in significant quantities, and the US is still figuring out how to store it long-term.
Microsoft did not respond to The Verge’s questions about its plans for next-generation nuclear weapons or how it might deal with the challenges that might come with it. Gates is also the founder and chairman of TerraPower, an incubator that develops SMR projects. The company “does not currently have any agreements to sell Microsoft reactors,” CNBC said. Microsoft has already struck a deal to buy clean energy credits from Canadian utility Ontario Power Generation, which aims to become the first utility to deploy SMRs in North America, Axios reports. DCD, a data center publishing website, first reported the job listing last week.
Microsoft also struck a bold deal to buy electricity from a company called Helion, which is developing an even more futuristic fusion power plant. Both old-school nuclear reactors and SMR designs produce electricity through nuclear fission, the splitting of atoms. Nuclear fusion involves clumping atoms together, like stars do, to create their own energy. A fusion reactor is kind of the holy grail—it would be a source of large amounts of clean energy that doesn’t produce the same radioactive waste as nuclear fission. But despite decades of research and recent discoveries, most experts say fusion power is at least a decade away—and the world can’t wait that long to tackle climate change.
Helion’s supporters also include OpenAI CEO and ChatGPT developer Sam Altman. This year, Microsoft expanded its “multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment” with OpenAI. Last week, the company announced its plan to add the OpenAI DALL-E 3 image generator to Bing Chat. “We’re committed to helping our customers use our platforms and tools to do more with less today and innovate for the future in the new era of artificial intelligence,” said Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella in a job listing for chief nuclear technology program manager. .