Google teams with nuclear power giant to give reactors a tune-up

Upgraded turbines, generators, and digital controls are expected to unlock an addition 890MW of capacity

Google on Tuesday struck a deal with Constellation Energy for 3,590 megawatts of future energy supply, including nearly a gigawatt of new nuclear capacity, as the search and advertising giant tries to find enough energy to power its datacenter ambitions.

The 20-year power purchase agreement will see Constellation, the largest purveyor of atomic energy in the US, bring an additional 890 megawatts of nuclear capacity online by making "targeted investments at multiple nuclear plants." 

We understand those investments will go toward upgrades to at least 11 existing nuclear plants across Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey through a process known as uprating.

REG AD

"By modernizing and upgrading turbines, steam generators, and digital control systems at operating plants, uprates deliver substantial capacity gains without the multi-year timelines or interconnection bottlenecks associated with greenfield construction," the power company explained in a statement.

REG AD

The other 2,700 megawatts the deal covers will come from other unspecified sources.

Constellation expects to spend $4.3 billion to fulfill its side of the deal, and plans to complete its first uprated reactor by 2028.

Google is on track to spend as much as $205 billion on datacenters and compute this year, but all that money is wasted if it can't secure power to make its servers and GPUs work.

The hyperscaler is far from the only one scrambling to secure adequate power to keep its AI ambitions from starving. Microsoft also tapped Constellation to reignite the Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor – you know, the one that didn't partially melt down back in 1979. That reactor is expected to come online as early as next year.

Meta is also making noise about nuclear. The Social Network is working with Constellation to save a doomed nuclear plant in Illinois. Earlier this year, Meta revealed that its nuclear and clean energy commitments now total 6.6 gigawatts, though it's worth noting that figure depends heavily on the successful rollout of small modular reactors, an unproven form of miniature nuke plant. ®