South Carolina Plans To Restart Mothballed Nuclear Plants To Power AI Data Centers

The Santee Cooper electric utility is seeking buyers to revive construction at the long-abandoned V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in South Carolina to address the surging energy needs of artificial intelligence.

The nuclear station, located in Fairfield County, is betting on strong interest from tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft.

Both companies require large amounts of energy to power AI-driven data centers.

Santee Cooper, which owns the $9 billion project, halted in 2017 after contractor Westinghouse Electric Co. filed for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Santee Cooper has partnered with Centerview Partners to solicit proposals by May 5.

The plan envisions a consortium of an additional power company to power the nuclear reactors, a construction firm, a tech company, and additional capital partners to complete the reactors.

Santee Cooper does not plan to run or own the nuclear station once it is functioning according to the Wall Street Journal report.

Nuclear power has seen a renewed interest due to energy demands for AI.

Microsoft and Constellation Energy's plan to reboot Three Mile Island, Amazon's agreements to support nuclear energy projects and Google's backing of small nuclear reactors through its parent company, Alphabet, signal a potential renaissance for U.S. nuclear energy.

In December, Meta announced a request for proposals to identify nuclear energy developers to support its growing energy needs for AI data centers.

The surge in data center development to support AI continues to strain the U.S. power grid, raising concerns about it creating a potential environmental crisis.