Jeff Brumfield

No. In fact, TMI puts out around 800 megawatts of electricity. And that all by itself is around the power consumption of what a single AI data center might eat. So these companies are going to need even more. Yeah. It's just the amount of power is really staggering here. And that's why Google, Meta, Amazon are all making investments towards new kinds of nuclear reactors.

And these reactors will look nothing like the old ones.

And these reactors will look nothing like the old ones.

And these reactors will look nothing like the old ones.

No, exactly, exactly. So to get a sense of that, I went just outside of D.C. to the headquarters of a company called X-Energy. It recently got somewhere around $250 million from Amazon for its reactor design. Clay Sell is the CEO.

No, exactly, exactly. So to get a sense of that, I went just outside of D.C. to the headquarters of a company called X-Energy. It recently got somewhere around $250 million from Amazon for its reactor design. Clay Sell is the CEO.

No, exactly, exactly. So to get a sense of that, I went just outside of D.C. to the headquarters of a company called X-Energy. It recently got somewhere around $250 million from Amazon for its reactor design. Clay Sell is the CEO.

So what do you think about in terms of large traditional nuclear power plants, Regina?

So what do you think about in terms of large traditional nuclear power plants, Regina?

So what do you think about in terms of large traditional nuclear power plants, Regina?

Cooling towers. Yep.

Cooling towers. Yep.

Cooling towers. Yep.

That's absolutely right. You know, I mean, you've just described Three Mile Island, actually, which I think was the template for The Simpsons. But this reactor won't have any big cooling towers. And critically, the fuel is not going to be in these rods, which is what traditional plants put them in, these long rods of uranium. X-Energy plans to run off little round balls of uranium instead.

That's absolutely right. You know, I mean, you've just described Three Mile Island, actually, which I think was the template for The Simpsons. But this reactor won't have any big cooling towers. And critically, the fuel is not going to be in these rods, which is what traditional plants put them in, these long rods of uranium. X-Energy plans to run off little round balls of uranium instead.

That's absolutely right. You know, I mean, you've just described Three Mile Island, actually, which I think was the template for The Simpsons. But this reactor won't have any big cooling towers. And critically, the fuel is not going to be in these rods, which is what traditional plants put them in, these long rods of uranium. X-Energy plans to run off little round balls of uranium instead.

Clay says these reactors are going to be small and modular, and it's going to actually take several units to power a data center. But crucially, he says, this system has one really big advantage.

Clay says these reactors are going to be small and modular, and it's going to actually take several units to power a data center. But crucially, he says, this system has one really big advantage.

Clay says these reactors are going to be small and modular, and it's going to actually take several units to power a data center. But crucially, he says, this system has one really big advantage.

Yeah, it sounds great. I mean, the question is, can they make it work? The thing is only on paper right now. There's never been a reactor like it built in the U.S. before. There is one operating in China, but that's only a demo project. There's a lot of things that can make this really tricky to get running. For example, normal reactors use water to cool their core. The water runs through.