Big technology companies see this energy source as a way to satisfy their extremely high power demand, which has skyrocketed since the advent of AI
      • Railcar8095@lemm.eeEnglish
        8·
        7 months ago

        Just one note, nuclear power plants run at around 35% efficiency. This is because they are basically steam generators and tend to not push as hard for safety. I think they can get up to 40-45% with combined cycles and such, but then we are in the “very large” territory

      • bitwaba@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        7 months ago

        Large scale data centers, like the ones that end up in the news for FAANG are ~100 megawatt footprints.

        I have no idea where you’re getting 3.4 megawatts as the largest data center in the US, but that is wildly undersized.

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        7 months ago

        Well if you’re in the US you can get it from New Mexico and Wyoming. We’ve even got a few mines here in Texas.

        So in the US it’s a matter of getting licensed by the NRC and contacting one of the many processing facilities.

      • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        7 months ago

        Mali has a significant mine that France essentially controls. In America, we have mines but import a lot too.

        We actually currently buy about 25% of our uranium supply from Russia, though Congress just passed a ban that’ll go in effect in 90 days. It allows for waivers if there are supply issues, though, so it might end up being more than 90 days. (I have no idea how quickly a country can find a new uranium supplier but it sounds complicated.)