Google has announced the location of its first nuclear reactor to power its data centers as part of a deal with Kairos Power. The first facility, Hermes 2, will be located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and will provide 50 MW of nuclear power to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) grid, which powers the company's data centers in Tennessee and Alabama.
The company first announced a long-term partnership with Kairos Power in October 2024 to bring up to 500 MW of nuclear power to the U.S. ecosystem. Google says the move creates a three-way solution where energy consumers, utilities, and technology developers work together to advance new technologies.
Under this agreement, TVA will purchase electricity from the Kairos Power Hermes 2 power plant, which will begin operating in 2030. At this stage, Google will purchase clean energy from the power plant through TVA for its data centers.
In addition, Google in July signed a clean energy deal that will see the tech giant acquire up to 3 gigawatts of electricity in the U.S. The first contract will provide the company with 670 MW of capacity and will cost more than $3 billion.
As for nuclear power, Google isn’t the only company interested. In June, Meta signed a deal with XGS Energy to supply 150 MW of electricity from geothermal sources and purchase from nuclear power plants. Another company, AWS, is investing $500 million in nuclear power. Meanwhile, Microsoft signed a $1.6 billion deal to rehabilitate a decommissioned nuclear power plant.