Nvidia, the $3.6 trillion-dollar chip company, has partnered with California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant—the Golden State’s last remaining nuclear power facility. 

This deal between PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant and Nvidia is noteworthy. It’s the first-ever commercial installation of on-site generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) deployment at a major American nuclear power station.

“Atomic Canyon’s Neutron Enterprise generative AI solution, built and running on NVIDIA’s full-stack AI platform, is being deployed at Diablo Canyon to transform document search and retrieval, and deliver significant cost savings and improved operational efficiency. The Neutron Enterprise offering sets a new standard for information access and analysis in the nuclear energy sector,”  announced the press release.

Diablo Canyon was slated to close down in December 2023 but will extend its operations until at least October 2030 under Senate Bill 846. The sole remaining nuclear power station supplies 9% of California’s electricity supply and 17% of its carbon-free energy. With California’s electricity demand slated to increase 43% within 15 years, this facility—powered by AI—will bolster and strengthen the state’s power grid. 

Nvidia isn’t the only tech company that’s banking big on nuclear. Our Center recently spotlighted Amazon “going nuclear” to help meet growing electricity demand—slated to surge 9% by 2028—especially from AI-powered data centers. Across the U.S., Microsoft, Oracle, and Google have also turned to nuclear energy for their AI data center projects.

Shoring up more domestic nuclear energy production will bolster our electric grid, protect U.S. infrastructure from threats, and help maintain first-world living standards. As I’ve highlighted in our recent Policy Focus on Energy Security, nuclear’s benefits speak for themselves. These power plants run nearly 24/7, operate 93% of the year, and only need one square mile of land for a 1,000-megawatt (MW) facility. 

That’s why consumers and investors are warming up to this power source. As I noted last month here at IWF:

Enthusiasm for nuclear energy is high with 56% of Americans, across all political lines, supporting it. Another poll suggests support hovers close to 77%. This prompted the Department of Energy to study nuclear and recommend adding 60 GW of new nuclear power at the 41 currently operating or recently retired plants. Even the financial industry, formerly a nuclear skeptic, is also betting big on this baseload power.

Nuclear energy and natural gas are two primary energy sources that will be utilized to power AI data centers. The outgoing Biden-Harris administration wants the U.S. government to triple nuclear output capacity to 200 gigawatts (GW) of net nuclear capacity by 2050.

Our Center is optimistic about the American nuclear renaissance. For nuclear power to fully take off here, it can’t be tied to net-zero climate goals nor strictly rely on government assistance.

To learn more about the forthcoming American nuclear energy renaissance, go HERE.