Meta today announced three deals to provide its data centers with nuclear power: one from a startup, one from a smaller energy company, and one from a larger company that already operates several nuclear reactors in the U.S.
Oklo and TerraPower, two companies developing small modular reactors (SMR), each signed agreements with Meta to build multiple reactors, while Vistra is selling capacity from its existing power plants.
Nuclear power has become a favored power source for tech companies as their AI ambitions have grown, providing stable 24/7 electricity. Startups and existing reactors have benefited from the race for data center power, though in different ways.
Existing reactors tend to be the cheapest form of baseload capacity, but there are only so many to go around, which has pushed Meta and its peers toward SMR startups. Companies like Oklo and TerraPower are betting that by building a large number of smaller reactors, they’ll be able to bring the cost down through mass manufacturing. It’s a plausible hypothesis, though one that has yet to be tested. Meta’s deal could give SMR startups a chance to prove it.
The deals are the result of a request for proposals that Meta issued in December 2024, in which Meta sought partners that could add between 1 to 4 gigawatts of generating capacity by the early 2030s. Much of the new power will flow through the PJM interconnection, a grid which covers 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and has become saturated with data centers.
The 20-year agreement with Vistra will have the most immediate impact on Meta’s energy needs. The tech company will buy a total of 2.1 gigawatts from two existing nuclear power plants, Perry and Davis-Besse in Ohio.
As part of the deal, Vistra will also add capacity to those power plants and to its Beaver Valley power plant in Pennsylvania. Together, the upgrades will generate an additional 433 MW and are scheduled to come online in the early 2030s.
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Meta is also buying 1.2 gigawatts from young provider Oklo. Under its deal with Meta, Oklo is hoping to start supplying power to the grid as early as 2030. The SMR company went public via SPAC in 2023, and while Oklo has landed a large deal with data center operator Switch, it has struggled to get its reactor design approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
If Oklo can deliver on its timeline, the new reactors would be built in Pike County, Ohio. The startup’s Aurora Powerhouse reactors each produce 75 megawatts of electricity, and it will need to build more than a dozen to fulfill Meta’s order.
TerraPower is a startup co-founded by Bill Gates, and it is aiming to start sending electricity to Meta as early as 2032. It has designed a reactor that uses molten sodium to transfer energy from reactor to generator. When demand is low, the superheated salt can be stored in an insulated vat until more power is needed. The reactor can generate 345 megawatts of electricity, while the storage system can provide an additional 100 to 500 megawatts for more than five hours.
The company has navigated the NRC process more smoothly, and it is working with GE Hitachi to build its first power plant in Wyoming. Its first two reactors for Meta would provide 690 megawatts, and Meta said it has rights to buy another six units for a total of 2.8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity and 1.2 gigawatts of storage.
Meta did not disclose financial terms of the deals.
The power purchases from Vistra are certain to be the cheapest — electricity from already operating nuclear reactors is among the cheapest on the grid.
Costs for SMRs still have yet to be worked out. Several startups have aggressive cost targets: TerraPower has estimated that it can bring it down to $50 to $60 per megawatt-hour, while Oklo has said it is aiming for $80 to $130 per megawatt-hour. Those figures are for later power plants — the first examples are likely to cost more.
Source: techcrunch.com
