The US needs three times its current nuclear energy capacity to meet AI's growing power needs, a new report has warned.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has published an updated version of its Pathways to Commercial Liftoff Advanced Nuclear report, warning that AI and data center load growth will require tripling nuclear capacity by 2050; from 100GW to 300GW.

The report highlights a significant rise in electricity demand over the past year, following decades of stagnation. This surge, primarily driven by AI and data centers, has intensified interest in nuclear energy due to its ability to provide 24/7 carbon-free power within a compact footprint.

The report highlights the increasing value of clean firm resources by companies with clean energy targets and high-reliability requirements.

For example, Google’s projections for meeting decarbonization targets for its global data centers found that clean firm technologies (including advanced nuclear) would reduce costs by 40 percent compared to only wind and solar with lithium-ion storage.

Additionally, the report argues that rather than replacing renewables, nuclear energy can act as a complementary technology with more variable renewable assets, especially in sectors such as the data center sector, where much of the demand is disproportionate for 24/7 electricity. This is made more apparent by the fact that when nuclear capacity has been retired, it has not been fully replaced with wind and solar, it has largely been replaced with natural gas.

The report emphasizes that securing 5-10 deployments of a single reactor design of at least 1,000MW is crucial for commercial success. Building multiple reactors of the same design is expected to lower construction costs through repetition and learning. The DOE suggests that value and cost control improve when large reactors are built in "fleet mode."

The major barrier to nuclear development is cost overrun, and the report highlights several measures to overcome this issue. These include sharing costs across multiple units under construction, public/private partnerships on funding, and ensuring on-budget delivery through improved cost estimating and implementing best project management practices.

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are seen as key players in filling the load gap for certain applications. The report contends that SMRs could be the right fit for certain applications, such as replacing retiring coal plants or smaller-scale data centers. However, to justify investment in manufacturing facilities, microreactor designers may require a committed order book of 30-50 reactors.

The DOE recently said there are 190 coal and ex-nuclear sites that could be powered up for new nuclear capacity, potentially offering up to 269GW.

Data center operators have increasingly begun to target nuclear power as a means to acquire clean consistent power for their operations.

In September, Microsoft signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Constellation to take up 100 percent of a revived Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to power a planned 837MW Pennsylvanian AI data center.

Prior to this, in March, AWS acquired the 960MW Cumulus data center campus in Pennsylvania, which draws power from Talen Energy’s neighboring 2.5GW nuclear power station in Luzerne County.

Google and Oracle have also recently discussed their desire to use nuclear energy to power their data centers.