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TerraPower, a nuclear energy startup founded by Bill Gates, struck a deal<\/a> this week with one of the largest data center developers in the US to deploy advanced nuclear reactors. TerraPower and Sabey Data Centers (SDC) are working together on a plan to run existing and future facilities on nuclear energy from small reactors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tech companies are scrambling to determine where to get all the electricity they\u2019ll need for energy-hungry AI data centers that are putting growing pressure on power grids. They\u2019re increasingly turning to nuclear energy<\/a>, including next-generation reactors that startups like TerraPower are developing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace after decades of business as usual, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries,\u201d TerraPower\u00a0President and CEO Chris Levesque said in a press release. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n A memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies establishes a \u201cstrategic collaboration\u201d that\u2019ll initially look into the potential for new nuclear power plants in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region that would power SDC\u2019s data centers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s still a long road ahead before that can become a reality. The technology TerraPower and similar nuclear energy startups are developing still have to make it through regulatory hurdles<\/a> and prove that they can be commercially viable. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, the next generation of reactors are supposed to be smaller and easier to site. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that are causing climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates concerned about the impact of uranium mining<\/a> and storing radioactive waste<\/a> near communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019m a big believer that nuclear energy can help us solve the climate problem, which is very, very important. There are designs that, in terms of their safety or fuel use or how they handle waste, I think, minimize those problems,\u201d Gates told The Verge<\/em> last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n TerraPower\u2019s reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is\u00a0the only advanced technology of its kind with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the company. The company just broke ground<\/a> on a demonstration project in Wyoming last year, and expects it to come online in 2030. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n