Google's CEO said that the company is considering whether to power its data centers with nuclear power plants.

Sundar Pichai told Nikkei that the company was looking into the option, adding that he was also "evaluating technologies like small modular reactors (SMRs)."

Constellation Three Mile Island
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Last month, Pichai mentioned SMRs while saying the company planned to build 1GW data centers.

The comments come as Google's two largest cloud rivals have signed major nuclear deals.

Back in March, AWS acquired Talen Energy’s data center campus next to the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania for $650 million. At the time, it was said to be able to support up to 960MW. In May, AWS was granted a 1,600-acre rezoning request to develop 15 data center buildings.

Then, in September, Microsoft announced that it would take up 100 percent of a revived Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in a 837MW, 20-year deal.

As exclusively reported by DCD, Microsoft has built out a nuclear deals team, including Archie Manoharan and Erin Henderson, while Amazon is looking for its own SMR and nuclear lead.

It is not clear who leads Google's nuclear strategy, but this summer the company's head of global energy markets and policy, Briana Kobor, attended the American Nuclear Society Conference to talk to nuclear operators.

Meanwhile, Oracle founder Larry Ellison claims that his company plans to build a 1GW data center campus backed by three SMRs, but has yet to provide any further details.