Data Centers Cannot Run on Occasional Electricity from Wind and Solar. We Need More Nuclear for That.

Guest Post from Ron Stein, P.E. and Oliver Hemmers.

Delivery of affordable, abundant, reliable, clean, and emissions-free electricity to customers is very important to modern quality of life. Achieving this is threatened by a vulnerable grid and the intermittency of wind and solar electricity generation methods. To meet the coming power supply crisis for the demands of data centers and AI, it’s time to stimulate conversations about electricity generation to meet the needs of the end users.

USS Nautilus, the First Nuclear Powered Submarine

The nuclear power systems developed for the Navy have functioned well for five decades. All commissioned U.S. Navy submarines and supercarriers built since 1975 are nuclear-powered. Other military services are now getting on board. If such a profoundly reliable and resilient system for the generation of emissions free electricity that is continuous and uninterruptible can be extended to the commercial power market, it would allow a variety of suppliers to compete for the business of the end user, allowing greatly reduced electricity prices.

Today, about 440 nuclear power reactors are in operation in 32 countries and Taiwan, with 62 new reactors under construction. As of August 1, 2023, the United States had 54 nuclear power plants with 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors in 28 states. These plants generate about 20% of the country’s electricity. Nuclear power has the competitive advantage of being the only baseload power source that can accommodate the desired expansion of a clean electricity supply to the end users that is emission free, continuous, and uninterruptible.

• As of May 2024, there were 214 nuclear reactors permanently shut down worldwide. The United States recorded the largest number of shutdowns, with 41 units. More recently, twelve U.S. nuclear power reactors have permanently closed since 2012. We’ve also experienced the shutdown of nuclear plants in California and the recent one in New York, which were perfectly viable and profitable.

• Another seven U.S. reactor retirements have been announced through 2025, with total generating capacity of 7,109 MW (equal to roughly 7% of U.S. nuclear power production).

• However, announced retirements have not always occurred as planned: 16 reactors previously announced for permanent closure have continued operating pursuant to state interventions that provide them with additional revenue sources. Those 16 reactors in 6 states represent 15,734 MW of electricity generation capacity (16% of total U.S. nuclear power production). Recent studies have identified many other U.S. reactors as being “at risk” of shutdown for economic reasons, although their closures have not been announced.

Next-generation reactors are the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR). SMRs are new types of reactors that produce Slightly Used Nuclear Fuel (SUNF) but do not recycle it. While SMR deployment is beneficial for various applications and will be part of future electricity mixes, these are very different from the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) that use fast neutrons to generate more nuclear fuels than they consume while generating power, dramatically enhancing the efficiency of energy resources.

Commercialization of nuclear power for the generation of electricity that is emissions free, continuous, and uninterruptible, seems to be more practical than ever before.

The introduction of intermittent power has disrupted the “on-demand” delivery system in that sun and wind patterns force the utility to adopt steadier “baseload” power production to accommodate these patterns. This has increased the chances of power blackouts and brownouts when weather conditions are not ideal. The reason for these changes is the desire to migrate the power production sources to “clean electricity.”

Coal and natural gas can supply continuous, uninterruptable, and adjustable baseload power that can be adjusted as demand changes. However, these are considered “dirty electricity.” Since baseload power is essential for a constant supply of electricity, additional baseload power sources are likely to be nuclear power plants since they are not “dirty electricity” producers.

Consistent and resilient power delivery is a national security issue and a quality-of-life issue. People and economies have grown to depend on electricity so much that they no longer have alternative methods to replace heat, lights, food preservation, and air conditioning in the event of a power outage. So, economic electricity must be delivered to people 100% of the time or serious disruptions in their lives and the economy will be apparent, including loss of life in certain medical situations.

The largest impediment to this goal appears to be mainstream media and the climate-NGO-industrial-environmental complex that is against nuclear since it massively increases taxpayer subsidies for renewables and the political attitude to eliminate nuclear power from the market in the United States. They also encourage massive unnecessary Government regulation, thus increasing the price of nuclear power.

The nuclear power production industry has the best industrial safety record among all industries for electricity production. So, the fear that most needs attention is the one surrounding spent nuclear fuel, which is commonly referred to as “nuclear waste.” The solution, then, lies in educating heads of state, mainstream media, and policymakers by extending the concept of recycling to include the unspent energy in used nuclear fuels, a method that can convince people that the “nuclear waste” issue is being dealt with, the cost of power is competitive, and that the production of nuclear power is safe.

Recycling Slightly Used Nuclear Fuel (SUNF) in a Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) provides all these remedies in a way that is competitive and publicly acceptable.

The advantages to recycling used nuclear fuel in Fast Breeder Reactors are many:

1. It provides a solution to the disposition of the stockpile of Slightly Used Nuclear Fuel (SUNF).

2. Current inventories of SUNF provide an essentially unlimited supply of domestic fuel.

3. The fuel material is already mined, so the energy produced is much closer to 100% clean, and further environmental degradation from mining operations is not required.

4. The public would be more receptive to nuclear power because “waste” is being used as “fuel,” reducing the retention of unspent fuels and diminishing perceived risks.

5. The design is “intrinsically safe”. This means that the reactor is designed to cool sufficiently in the case of an accident without human intervention.

6. The current stockpile of SUNF has a value of $10 Trillion when the electric power that it produces is sold at 1 cent per kWh.

7. Process heat can be used for industrial purposes such as hydrogen, freshwater production, and synthetic fuel production.

Rather than pursue renewables of wind and solar that require huge land footprints, huge taxpayer subsidies, and even then, only generate electricity occasionally, it’s time to focus our technology resources on the nuclear power production industry that has the best industrial safety record among all companies and a track record of producing the cheapest non-subsidized electricity.

Specifically, focusing technology on commercializing emissions-free electricity that is continuous and uninterruptible to support the exponential growth of power demands from data centers, AI, airports, hospitals, telemetry, and the military. A great primer for definitions and companies engaged in the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) space is An Introduction to Advanced Nuclear Reactors.

For a brief primer education on the electricity generation marketplace, please view the 1-hour video with Chris Powers, and Robert Bryce at Power Hungry, as they discuss energy, politics, nuclear, and fossil fuels.

The main growth of electric power usage is coming from new data centers housing AI technologies. It is expected that over the next few decades, 50% of additional electric power will be needed just for AI, but data centers cannot run on occasional electricity from wind and solar. It’s time to stimulate conversations about electricity generation to meet the demands of the end users.

Ronald Stein, P.E. is an engineer, energy consultant, speaker, author of books and articles on energy, environmental policy, and human rights, and Founder of PTS Advance, a California based company.

Oliver Hemmers has a Doctorate in Physics from the Institute of Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. He was a Researcher in Physics, the Executive Director of UNLV’s Harry Reid Center and C- level executive.

Originally published on September 16, 2024, at America Out Loud NEWS.

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