People Would Rather Have Nuclear Power Plants In Their Area Than AI Data Centers
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/05/13/people-would-rather-have-nuclear-power-plants-in-their-area-than-ai-data-centers/
246 points · 43 comments · view on lemmy.world
43 Comments
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 50 pts · 105d
one of them is awful for the ecosystem, pollutes our water supply and fresh air, and wastes millions of dollars on a volatile possibly dangerous technology
the other one is a pretty good source of energy.
VibeSurgeon@piefed.social · 1 pts · 105d
These things only really follow as a consequence of them being powered by fossil fuels - the only thing the data centers themselves generate is heat and consequently they require water for cooling.
However, nuclear is the undefeated champion when it comes to generating heat and requiring water for cooling, so if I were concerned about the impacts of a data center with regards to water usage, I'd be equally or more concerned about the construction of a nuclear power plant.
Wind and solar on the other hand have none of these problems
inconel@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 105d
Nuclear plant has closed water system and usually dumps heat to nearby lake or sea. It ofc has environmental impact but less on freahwater usage compared to AI data centers that cool machines using freah water and in a way hard to recover water.
Tho when it comes to nuclear plant the elephant in the room is the hazardous waste it produces that takes next 100,000 years to settle. We're doing "let's fuck around bcs we won't find out in our lifetime" again.
Wind (and tidal) are affected by climate, may become unsustainable and imo the true free energy is solar.
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 9 pts · 105d
Nuclear waste is solvable, just not with existing market mechanisms. There were plans to reprocess nuclear waste before tge fall of the USSR lowered the price of Uranium ore.
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 105d
Climate change is solvable, just not with existing market mechanisms.
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 105d
Not a great comparison given that climate change does continuous, irreparable damage, whereas nuclear waste from power plants just sits there. Nuclear waste from nuclear weapon production is its own issue tho.
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 105d
If it doesn't do anything and 'just sits there' why do we have to be so careful where we put it? I don't normally bury all my harmless materials at the bottom of a mine
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 105d
So that it does continue to just sit there. If you dissolve it in ground water or concentrate so much of it it vaporizes or break it up and disperse it, it is no longer just sitting there.
Also lots of materials are harmless when treated correctly, and dangerous if dispersed.
VibeSurgeon@piefed.social · 1 pts · 105d
Why would a data center not be able to employ the same mechanism of having a closed water system and dumping heat?
Waste management is an issue for sure when it comes to nuclear, but the economics of nuclear is arguably the bigger problem - not to mention their uninsurability.
inconel@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 104d
Closed watet system is expensive and less scalable construction wise.
Nuclear plant employs it because the water has direct contact to the nuclear fuel, containing radioactive minerals. It cannot be released outside without treatment. It is necessity than choice. Companies would've chosen open water system if regulation allowed to so that they don't have to pay the cleanup fee.
VibeSurgeon@piefed.social · 1 pts · 104d
My understanding is that all nuclear power plants have a primary closed loop system (for the direct contact part), but the secondary cooling system, by heat exchange with the closed system, can either be evaporative or by heat exchange with an available body of water.
inconel@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 103d
Nuclear plant has been historically built nearby water body without water loss (evaporating). Shift to open system happened mostly in US. Majority of plants are still located in coast side (UK, Korea, Japan, Finland etc) using sea water, inland one still utilize river water (France).
For new US reactors likely employ open system so your water concern stands, though its open evaporation system is optimized better than unoptimized data center ones.
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 104d
because a closed system is more expensive than an open one. We live in capitalism where maximizing profits is the name of the game.
VibeSurgeon@piefed.social · -1 pts · 104d
Alright, so we mandate it, and then nuclear power plants are on the same level of consuming water as data centers - which is still not good, that was my point, mind you
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 103d
good luck mandating it when town halls full of locals screaming at their local level officials not to build a data center doesnt even work.
general_kitten@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 105d
typical nuclear plants consume about 1.5-3 cubic meters of water per MWh, but when the plant is near a water body so very often only about 1% of that so about 20 liters. So a 1GW plant would actually lose about 500 000 liters of water each day, rest is put back into it's water source body.
AI datacenters typically use 1-15 million liters of usually treated water daily so a larger datacenter is an order of magnitude higher water consumer than a nuclear power plant.
recursive_recursion@piefed.ca · 30 pts · 105d
Here here!🙌
I'd rather live next to a nuclear power plant than a slop producing resource wasting datacenter
stoy@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 105d
Hear hear
*FTFY
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 105d
They're raising there hand to show they want a nuclear plant right there.
inari@piefed.zip · -6 pts · 105d
Ironically, both would increase your power bills
darkangelazuarl@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 104d
Nuclear power plants are more regulated than data centers so it makes some sense.
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 105d
I would just rather live in the woods
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub · 5 pts · 105d
Trump has been cutting federal funding for firefighting, and DOGE cut FEMA.
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 105d
How does that have anything to do with what I said?
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 105d
The forest will catch fire and there won't be enough firefighters with enough equipment who can get to your home fast enough to save it. The increasing risk of wildfires will make homeowner's insurance in forested areas exorbitantly expensive, and even if you do pay for it they will tie you up in auditing for 3-5 years to try to avoid paying out. There will be no government relief funds.
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 105d
Man you're crazy
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 104d
The Camp Fire destroyed 95% of the buildings in the town of Paradise, CA in 2018
sidefaceturdtalker@leminal.space · 1 pts · 103d
you cray cray
sidefaceturdtalker@leminal.space · 1 pts · 103d
Uhhhhhh.... you can't just do what you want in ol mcdonald yankkkkeee land. Park services and forest fires. come on now .... 2+2 = 4
sidefaceturdtalker@leminal.space · 1 pts · 103d
gipity drones with the boots and the flur
lemmy_get_my_coat@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 105d
Why not? At least one of them does some good for the community.
njm1314@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 105d
No question.
brainwashed@feddit.org · 7 pts · 104d
One has gas turbines and the other a nuclear reactor. Statistically the latter is less lethal.
rockerface@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 105d
As someone living less than 200 km from Chornobyl... yeah, same. If it's not handled by ignorant bureaucrats, nuclear energy can be pretty damn useful.
Ashelyn@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 104d
When they are constantly spitting out dangerous sound and infrasound pollution to those who live near them, I think it's perfectly understandable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bP80DEAbuo
sidefaceturdtalker@leminal.space · 1 pts · 103d
dude I am so excited the corpos fuck up all the time... The turdherd gonna get vaperized... revolution now or distruction later... either way justice is always served
jaykrown@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 103d
Nuclear power is completely safe, I live in Illinois and we've never had a disaster even though we generate most of our energy from it. Having a modern nuclear power plant nearby would be awesome, and would continue to lower the price of electricity. A data center would just increase the price of electricity and waste water.
sobchak@programming.dev · 2 pts · 103d
Nuclear is one of the most expensive sources of electricity. I grew up near a nuclear power plant, and it had so many incidents it seemed like it was shut down more often than it was running. One incident involved corrosion almost completely eating through the containment, which sounds pretty scary to me, but I'm not a nuclear technician.
jaykrown@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 103d
Maybe if you don't factor in the external cost. Coal is cheap but it's fucking up people's health and the climate. Which nuclear power plant was that?
RockBottom@feddit.org · 2 pts · 103d
If you count taxes it might not be economically feasible: "A 2019 study by the economic think tank DIW Berlin, found that nuclear power has not been profitable anywhere in the world." Wikipedia
jaykrown@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 103d
If you count external environmental carbon emissions and the climate disaster we're headed towards it's feasible.
RockBottom@feddit.org · 1 pts · 102d
... if wind, solar and batteries didn't exist.
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -2 pts · 104d
How bout neither?