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Meta Strikes Long-Term Nuclear Power Deals With Vistra, Oklo and TerraPower

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Meta Platforms said on Friday it has signed 20-year agreements to secure nuclear power from three U.S. plants operated by Vistra and to support the development of small modular reactor (SMR) projects with Oklo and TerraPower.

The move underscores how large technology companies are seeking long-term electricity supplies as artificial intelligence workloads and data centres push U.S. power demand higher for the first time in two decades. Following the announcement, Oklo shares surged nearly 20%, while Vistra rose about 8% in premarket trading.

Meta said it will buy power from Vistra’s Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants in Ohio, as well as the Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania. The company said the agreements will help finance expansion at the Ohio facilities and extend the operational life of the plants, which are licensed to run through at least 2036. One of Beaver Valley’s two reactors is licensed through 2047.

In addition to power purchases from existing plants, Meta said it will help develop new nuclear capacity through partnerships focused on small modular reactors. SMRs are designed to be built largely in factories rather than on-site, which supporters say could eventually reduce costs, though critics argue they may struggle to achieve the economies of scale of traditional large reactors. There are currently no SMRs operating commercially in the United States, and all projects still require regulatory approval.

Meta said the agreements could provide up to 6.6 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2035. A typical nuclear power plant produces about 1 gigawatt. In 2024, Meta sought proposals from nuclear developers for between 1 and 4 gigawatts of capacity.

Under the deal with TerraPower — a company backed by Bill Gates — Meta will help fund the development of two reactors expected to generate up to 690 megawatts as early as 2032. The agreement also gives Meta rights to energy from up to six additional TerraPower reactors by 2035. TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said the partnership would support rapid deployment of new reactors.

Meta’s partnership with Oklo is aimed at developing up to 1.2 gigawatts of nuclear capacity in Ohio as early as 2030. Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte said Meta’s support would help fund early procurement and development work.

Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said the new agreements, together with a deal signed last year with Constellation Energy to keep an Illinois reactor running for 20 years, would make Meta “one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history.”

U.S. Grid Faces Strain Amid Surge in AI Data Center Growth

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The rapid expansion of AI data centers is raising concerns about the resilience of the U.S. electrical grid, with experts warning that the surge in energy demand could overwhelm the nation’s aging infrastructure. The rapid build-out of massive data centers, which can consume as much power as a mid-sized U.S. city at a single site, is driving electricity consumption to record highs. Government projections estimate that data center demand will triple in the next three years, accounting for 12% of the entire U.S. power supply.

“We are witnessing unprecedented growth, and the challenges the grid is facing are becoming more pronounced,” said Samir Vora, a senior executive at Mitsubishi Power Americas, during an interview at the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

As the demand for electricity rises, traditional fossil fuel-powered generators are being retired, and new generation and power lines are often delayed in interconnection queues, exacerbating the delicate balance required to avoid blackouts.

Mark Christie, who leads the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), highlighted the issue at the conference, stressing that the situation has become particularly critical in the PJM Interconnection grid, which serves 13 states and the District of Columbia. This area, home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers, is also crucial for internet traffic, with Virginia alone routing 70% of global internet traffic.

In its latest capacity auction, PJM reported that prices had surged by more than 800% compared to the previous year, citing rising demand and shrinking supply. Manu Asthana, CEO of PJM, expressed cautious optimism, acknowledging that the problem is solvable, though not trivial.

PJM’s peak demand is expected to rise from 152 gigawatts to 184 gigawatts by 2030, with nearly all of the growth driven by data centers. Without substantial investments in new power supply, experts warn that these supply-demand imbalances could spread to other regions across the country, making the situation even more dire.

“It’s going to become more pronounced in other multi-state regions as well,” warned FERC’s Mark Christie, signaling growing concerns about the stability of the grid.

NASA Restores Contact with Voyager 1, But Its Power Supply is Dwindling

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NASA engineers have successfully re-established contact with Voyager 1, which is currently located 15.4 billion miles (24.9 billion kilometers) from Earth, marking a crucial recovery after weeks of communication blackout. The issue began in October when Voyager 1 switched from its primary X-band radio transmitter to a weaker S-band transmitter due to a power shortage. This change, prompted by a command to activate a heater, led to difficulties in receiving data from the spacecraft.

The autonomous transmitter switch caused nearly a month of silence, but NASA engineers managed to restore the X-band transmitter in early November. The spacecraft is now operating normally, resuming its scientific observations and data transmission.

Voyager 1, launched in 1977 as part of NASA’s mission to explore the outer planets, has far outlived its original mission. Now in interstellar space, it continues to send valuable data despite a steadily decreasing power supply. The spacecraft’s plutonium-powered thermoelectric generators lose about 4 watts of power annually, equivalent to the energy used by a small light bulb. This gradual power decline has led the mission team to turn off non-essential systems over the years, ensuring the remaining instruments can continue to operate for as long as possible.

However, challenges persist. The spacecraft’s power situation is increasingly uncertain, as seen when the fault protection system was triggered by the heater command. This issue highlights the limitations of the spacecraft’s power models and suggests that the probe’s ability to maintain its current operations is becoming more precarious.

Despite these hurdles, the Voyager mission team remains determined to keep the spacecraft functioning as long as possible. Both Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, have far exceeded their expected lifespans, providing unprecedented data from the distant reaches of our solar system and beyond.

Currently, only four instruments remain operational on each probe, studying plasma, magnetic fields, and particles in interstellar space. These observations offer invaluable insights into an uncharted region of space, and while the loss of some science data during the transmitter outage is regrettable, the mission team is more focused on extending the operational life of these instruments.

As Voyager 1 continues its journey into the unknown, the mission team is working to make the most of every remaining watt of power. With each passing year, they are faced with tough decisions on which systems to keep running, as the spacecraft edges closer to the end of its mission.