Large technology companies are all racing to the nuclear energy market. One such company is Microsoft, which was announced by Bobby Hollis, Vice President of Energy for Microsoft, on Sept. 20, 2024, that they purchased a nuclear facility in Pennsylvania.

These tech companies are moving to nuclear power plants to achieve more power, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawan said in an article published on April 2, 2024, “The energy intensity of advanced cloud and AI services has driven us to accelerate out efforts to drive efficiencies and energy reductions.”

Microsoft has also dedicated themselves to go “carbon negative” by 2030, and nuclear energy is one of the ways they plan to achieve that according to Hollis. Accord to Microsoft’s policy belief on nuclear energy, “Traditional large nuclear reactors have long been a source of carbon-free, firm energy.”

According to Amber Jackson’s article on Data Centre Magazine posted August 24, 2024, data center construction in the US has skyrocketed by 69% compared to 2023. With the widespread usage of AI from asking it to write a summary of a long study to generating art from a description. Even popular search engines involve AI with simple searches.

Now more than ever, companies like Microsoft need more fuel to power AI technology. That is why they bought an 835-megawatt nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. And not just any old power plant, but Three-Mile Island.

The Three-Mile Island accident happened March 28, 1979. According to CNN, it is known as the worst commercial nuclear power plant accident in the US. One of its two reactors started to malfunction due to blockages in filters of the reactor. This made it so the reactor suddenly started to heat up and messed with the pressurizer.

It led to large releases of steam, eventual exposure to the reactor core, and ruined the processing of the reactor. Operators reacted too slowly to stop it before what eventually happened that day. They had to announce an emergency to the site and get authorities involved to report the accident.

Although no one died, “The exposure for 2 million people was less than that of a chest X-ray” according to The Wall Street Journal’s podcast, The Journal. It may not be a lot, but an accident like this caused people to fear nuclear power plants.

Microsoft may need to take these concerns into account when they and other tech companies decide to buy and potentially build nuclear reactors. Although a lot of power comes with them, there is also a chance of lots of destruction.

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