Speaker
Description
Data centers will consume 9% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030 according to the Electric Power Research Institute. There are two energy-related challenges for building AI data centers with a greater capacity: a shortage of electricity and the need to reduce carbon emissions. Small modular reactors (SMRs) may solve both issues by co-location with data center campuses. Compared to the traditional full-scale nuclear energy plants, SMRs have advantages such as smaller physical footprints and reduced capital investment. Companies such as Terrestrial Energy, TerraPower, NuScale, X-energy, and Rolls-Royce are developing SMR technology for commercial launching in the late 2020s. This presentation will outline the new R&D opportunities along with our research in SMRs and additive manufacturing (AM) for AI data center infrastructures, with the aim of increasing the data center efficiency and reducing the deployment time and manufacturing cost. These AI data centered powered by nuclear energy may create new economic opportunities for Nebraska and the Great Plains.
