Molten salt reactors > > > Your solar panels
Google has partnered with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to buy electricity from Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the first deal of its kind for such advanced nuclear tech in the US.
The reactor, expected to go live in 2030, will power Google’s data centres in Tennessee and Alabama.
Unlike traditional designs, Hermes 2 uses molten fluoride salt as a coolant instead of water, allowing it to run at lower pressure and cut infrastructure costs.
What you should know:
Hermes 2 aims to speed up nuclear innovation in the US.
Google targets cleaner energy to support its AI expansion.
Carbon emissions rose last year, increasing pressure on sustainability goals.
Google plans to support 500MW of new nuclear capacity by 2035.
Hermes 2 will deliver 50MW, while the US’s 94 reactors currently provide a combined 97,000MW, making up just under 20% of national electricity.
Through TVA, Google will also receive clean energy certificates, helping it offset emissions as demand from AI-driven data centres continues to grow.
I swear AI’s eating power like it’s free samples at Costco.