The data center industry has SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) in its sights

This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services

Training AI is having an impact on data center architecture by making it much denser, while demand is driving scale and capacity to the point of straining utilities. This was the very timely subject I had the pleasure of presenting on when I opened the inaugural Data Center Frontiers Summit in Virginia recently.

There seems to be insatiable demand for AI training accelerated by GPUs and it all comes down to horsepower. As I asked the audience, how high can rack densities go? The power densities for AI IT racks can currently push up to 70 kW per rack. The new generation Blackwell GPUs from NVIDIA can go up to 120 kWs per rack. And there is talk that the generation after may be up to 240 kW per rack.

As you can imagine, my presentation raised a lot of eyebrows and sparked interesting discussions regarding the possible solutions in play.

A case for SMRs

As the conference was in close proximity to data center alley, Michael Turner, Ashburn District Supervisor, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, spoke on a panel called: “Key Opportunities in Sustainable, Renewable Data Center Onsite Power Generation.”  Turner said there are 181 data centers in data center alley. He received 3 new data center applications in the last 5 days with one for a 1 GW site. He believes all of the data centers today use a total of about 3.5 GW – so he is seeing tremendous requests for growth.

In his presentation, Turner made 3 key points:

1. There is plenty of power generation but not enough power distribution.
2. Data center alley needs 4 new power distribution feeds, but there is major public opposition.
3. He firmly believes the answer in the future is Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

He said he would have never considered this a few years ago but the case is compelling. In his opinion, SMRs are the leading solution mainly due to the stability and availability of the power source and the carbon-free emissions. He even said that “all roads lead to Rome, and Rome in this case is SMRs.”

Read the White Paper

Time will tell if SMRs are the way of the future. If you would like to look at the potential benefits of SMRs for data centers, as well as the headwinds, I invite you to read my recently published White Paper on the subject – Small Modular Reactors Suitability for Data Centers.