Google, Kairos Power to deploy advanced nuclear plant in TVA collaboration

Google (GOOGL), Kairos Power, and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced earlier a new collaboration to “bolster the country’s leadership in advanced nuclear energy.” Through a new power purchase agreement between Kairos Power and TVA, Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will deliver up to 50 megawatts of energy to the TVA grid that powers Google data centers in Tennessee and Alabama. “TVA is the first U.S. utility to sign a PPA to buy electricity from an advanced, GEN IV reactor, and Hermes 2 is the first deployment under Kairos Power’s landmark deal with Google to enable 500 MW of new, advanced nuclear capacity to come online by 2035 in support of Google’s load growth. To accelerate the delivery of clean energy to Google, Kairos Power will increase Hermes 2’s output from 28 MW to 50 MW generated by a single reactor, scheduled to begin operations in 2030. Through this agreement, Google will receive the clean energy attributes from the plant through the TVA system to further decarbonize its data center operations in Montgomery County, Tennessee, and Jackson County, Alabama, and support future growth in the region,” the parties stated. Publicly traded companies in the nuclear energy space include Oklo (OKLO), Nuscale Power (SMR), Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE), BWX Technologies (BWXT), Centrus Energy (LEU) and Cameco (CCJ).