The AI Boom Needs Power, and Nuclear Is Suddenly Looking Very Sexy
Every tech company right now is screaming for more electricity.
Not a little bit more.
Not “just a few volts” more.
We’re talking “built an entire new continent of servers and still need more” levels of energy demand.
Data centers are multiplying like gremlins dropped in a swimming pool. The AI race is pushing power grids to the limit. And clean, consistent energy is becoming the most important resource in tech - arguably even more important than GPUs.
So along comes nuclear power like,
“Hey. Remember me. I’ve been here the whole time. I don’t emit carbon. I run 24/7. I don’t care if the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. Want to maybe hang out again?”
And suddenly… everyone wants to hang out again.
Three Mile Island Is Coming Back Online
Yes. You read that correctly.
Three. Mile. Island.
The site of America’s most famous nuclear panic - a panic that, by the way, caused no deaths and no long term harm - is being restarted to power Microsoft’s data centers.
The US Department of Energy just approved a 1 billion dollar loan to help bring the plant back to life. This reactor alone can power about 800,000 homes, and Microsoft has already signed a 20 year agreement to buy the clean energy for its AI infrastructure.
This is wild on so many levels:
A plant that was shut down because the state refused to subsidize it is now needed more than ever.
Nuclear power, once seen as the boogeyman, is suddenly the savior of climate goals and the AI gold rush.
Three Mile Island might actually become a symbol of renewal instead of disaster.
They’re even rebranding the restarted unit as the Crane Clean Energy Center which… sure. Fine. I guess every comeback story deserves a shiny new name.
Why Now
Why? Because policymakers finally realized something obvious:
We can’t meet climate goals and power the AI future with prayers and solar panels alone.
Solar and wind are great. But they’re intermittent, weather dependent, and nowhere near enough to support the exploding demand coming from data centers, electrified transportation, and smart everything.
Nuclear power is the only technology we have that:
produces massive amounts of clean energy
operates continuously
requires almost no land
emits no carbon
doesn’t depend on rare earth mining
and can realistically scale within this decade
It was always the answer.
We just didn’t like the branding.
The Renaissance Begins
Three Mile Island is not the only story.
There are dozens of nuclear restarts planned.
Small modular reactors are being fast-tracked.
Even countries that swore off nuclear twenty years ago are quietly changing their tune.
And the most surprising driver of all - the one pushing nuclear from “controversial” to “necessary” - is artificial intelligence.
AI needs clean power.
Nuclear provides clean power.
And in this strange, unexpected way, the tech that scares so many is helping resurrect the tech that should have saved us decades ago.
Maybe This Time We Get It Right
Nuclear power should have been the backbone of our energy grid years ago.
But fear, politics, misinformation, and bad PR kept it in the shadows.
Now AI, of all things, is dragging it back into the spotlight.
And honestly?
Good.
Let it drag.
Let nuclear have its comeback era.
Let the planet breathe a little easier.
And maybe - just maybe - let’s stop letting anxiety and old headlines decide our future energy policy.
