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Matías S. Zavia
WriterAerospace and energy industries journalist at Xataka.
Karen Alfaro
WriterCommunications professional with a decade of experience as a copywriter, proofreader, and editor. As a travel and science journalist, I've collaborated with several print and digital outlets around the world. I'm passionate about culture, music, food, history, and innovative technologies.
Training large AI models consumes so much energy that tech companies are taking over nuclear power plants.
Meta saves a nuclear power plant. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s parent company has just signed an agreement that marks a paradigm shift. The Mark Zuckerberg-led company secured a struggling nuclear power plant with a 20-year contract.
Constellation Energy Corp., the largest nuclear operator in the U.S., will supply 1,121 megawatts of energy from its Clinton plant in Illinois directly to Meta’s data centers. The contract begins in mid-2027 and runs through 2047.
This is no coincidence. The state subsidy that has kept the Clinton nuclear power plant afloat expires in 2027. To understand this, rewind 10 years to 2017. At that time, the Clinton Power Station, like many other nuclear power plants in the U.S., stood on the brink of collapse.
Unable to compete with low natural gas prices and the rise of renewable energy sources, its owner at the time, Exelon, planned to shut it down. Only a last-minute intervention by the Illinois government, which approved a 10-year subsidy package, gave the plant the lifeline it needed.
A big tech company came knocking. Ultimately, a tech giant at the height of generative AI will take over the Illinois plant. Between 2019 and 2023, Meta’s total electricity consumption nearly tripled. Training and operating generative AI models requires data centers to run at full capacity 24 hours a day.
Renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics and wind power remain primarily weak because of their intermittency. Despite playing a key role in tech companies’ decarbonization strategies, they remain insufficient. Nuclear energy completes the puzzle with its massive, stable supply, allowing companies to maintain carbon-neutrality commitments.
Meta isn’t alone. Its move marks the latest in a growing trend. More than an isolated case, it confirms a strategic shift that has taken shape over the past two years. Tech giants have moved from signing renewable energy purchase agreements to actively pursuing the stability of nuclear energy.
Similar to Meta, Microsoft signed an agreement last year with Constellation to reactivate Reactor 1 at the Three Mile Island plant—known for the accident that occurred at Reactor 2. The plant, shut down in 2019, now powers Azure’s AI data centers.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has also partnered directly with a nuclear power plant. In March 2024, AWS purchased a large data center adjacent to the Susquehanna plant in Pennsylvania for $650 million. The deal guarantees 960 megawatts of direct power for its AI operations.
Image | Meta
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