Microsoft Looks to Nuclear to Fuel AI Plans
Microsoft Looks to Nuclear to Fuel AI Plans
Microsoft goes nuclear to deal with energy influx due to the meteoritic rise of its AI platforms.
Data centers, the things that physically store and share applications and data, require an enormous amount of energy to run. These giant storage units, responsible for 1-1.5% of global electricity consumption, have traditionally relied on renewable sources like solar and wind but it seems as though renewable energy just won’t be able to keep up with the demand required moving forward.
The people responsible for developing Windows should never be allowed near any kind of critical infrastructure.
"Bluescreen. Meltdown imminent. Would you like to search this error code with Bing?"
Don't worry. It'll run Linux.
Building an OS to run on every conceivable hardware combination is quite different than building narrowly-focused, purpose-built code.
Linux users: It just works out of the box! OK, fine, you may have to twiddle with a load of text files (if you can find them), spend a few hours researching, stuff like that. But it just works!
Again, not comparable, but MS had stable hits with NT 4.0, 2000, XP and 7. I'd add 10 as well. No personal experience with 11, but none of my users complain. Unless you wanted a locked ecosystem like Mac, and that's fine if you do!, Windows rocks out.
If you want a purpose-built OS, Linux clearly rules the world.
On my Linux machine. I did nothing and all was just running out of the box without needing to touch anything.
Meanwhile on Windows 10 and 11. I spend more than an hour installing GPU and Soundcard drivers with 3 reboots. Additionally a friend told me to reinstall the GPU drivers as I have bug X and Y which seemed common on Windows.
I've done countless installs of both windows and Linux over 20 years. Windows seems to work, until it doesn't. Then it needs a refresh which they don't make easy. Linux installs, with about the same number of exceptions as windows "work out of the box" with no messing with anything. When you need refresh, you simply, back up, wipe the partition and start over.
Putting aside the jokes, this is a pretty good idea. Dedicated renewable energy sources for data centers have some real problems (expansion, power transmission, land use in areas ideal for data centers, peak loads for data centers out of synch with the consumer grid, blahblahblah etc). With nobody anticipating the demand for data services will suddenly stop growing exponentially, because that would be silly, this is a prudent step forwards. I think we can all agree that reducing the operating costs, reducing the strain on local power grids and furthering societal acceptance of modern small-scale nuclear power plants are all pretty valuable ideas.
(and for what its worth, Microsoft contracts with NIF - they're already involved with the design of nuclear weapons, a thorium reactor (which would be DOE managed anyways) is a bit less concerning)
It’s a somewhat less attractive investment when compared against other renewable sources. Nuclear is orders of magnitude more expensive than solar per kwh now that prices have fallen
Yes, though I think the point here is that solar spectacularly loses on MW/SF compared to a nuclear facility. Data centers consume an unbelieveable amount of power. Being able to locate them closer to population centers is a huge benefit to them operationally. Modern nuclear reactors are hugely expensive, but the proposal here is for small, limited scope facilities. Expensive, yes, but this is an excellent use case for them and would do wonders at piloting their broader acceptance / proven tech.
Are there flaws? Plenty. But at its core it's not a bad idea.
Land use and energy storage requirements beg to differ
I'm, like, OK, nuclear power isn't necessarily a bad thing.
But power plants like that should probably serve wider municipal needs.Building a private nuclear power plant just to power a data center? Well that's clearly stupid.
Building a private nuclear power plant just to power a data center focused on a niche application? Well you know how that goes.Also, look up SL-1. Disturbingly few Americans I've talked to have heard about that. Generally a good argument about why not every single thing should be powered by a tiny dedicated nuclear reactor.
A failure in a poorly designed test reactor isn't a great argument against nuclear power
SL-1 can't happen in a modern reactor design. In fact, it probably could never have happened in any non-test bed reactor. The issue was cause by an actual human pulling the control rod physically, from what I can tell. That's just not a thing done with operating reactors I'm pretty certain. There are also a ton more precautions built in than they had, as well as better protocal and understanding of the mechanics.
I'm not making this comment to disagree with your point, but the failure of the SL-1 reactor strikes me as an engineering and process failure more than anything else. The reactor was not designed in a safe fashion, probably because it was designed as a test bed for reactors that could be deployed via airplanes to the Arctic circle. The fact that an engineer was even able to fully remove a control rod, and the fact that removing that control rod lead to a fatal steam explosion make me think that they really tried too hard when they removed weight and volume from the reactor design.
In well designed safety-critical systems, human error should not be able to cause any form of bodily harm. I don't think it's a great idea for a private company to be running nuclear reactors on Earth to power something as trivial as a data center (investing in storage + local solar/wind/geothermal/hamster wheel velodrome seems like a more efficient use of resources for one thing), but I also don't think that SL-1 is the best example to cite here.
As an aside, my high school Physics teacher went on a long diatribe about how the three SL-1 casualties were the only humans ever killed as the direct result of nuclear fission in the context of a nuclear reactor. Looking back on it, I think she was splitting hairs a bit, but it is an interesting point to make.
Well you know how that goes.
I don't, please elaborate.
Data centers [...] have traditionally relied on renewable sources like solar and wind
I don't think that's really true. The green/grey graphs in this article show how difficult that is: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-energy/google-and-others-have-committed-to-24-7-carbon-free-energy-what-does-that-mean
All these fancy plans and Microsoft still can’t figure out how to merge Windows Control Panel and Settings into one 🙄.
This was really annoying in windows 10, but in windows 11 I can’t remember the last time I had to go into control panels. I don’t do too much odd stuff, but still.
Backward compatibility issues I would imagine. When your codebase is that large and ubiquitous, it's hard to make the tiniest change without breaking shit.
And every time MS does change* something, resulting in breaking updates: "SEE! M$ sucks!"
I'm fine with this as long as they're willing to use that power for the grid when the AI grift enviably comes crashing down.
They won't get that far. It takes 20+ years to construct a nuclear power plant. This hype will be lucky to last 20 months.
Getting strong metal gear solid vibe from this one
Welp, didn't think I'd be reminded of Don Widener's book N.U.K.E.E. today.
I can't wait for the extropians to start installing McReactors everywhere. More energy = more better!!!
How about they use the AI to figure out cold fusion?
LOL. You don't think this stuff can actually produce novel solutions do you?
The problem with nuclear is nuclear waste. Nuclear waste is stored in barrels in caves and buried. It remains radioactive for thousands of years. By creating nuclear waste we are forcing 100 generations after us to live with this nuclear waste. I don't know all the details but they say it's "safe."
Hard to believe how safe something can be from an inconvenient earthquake or terrorist attack.
Those are talking points from like, weeks after nuclear became a thing. How are people still parroting them to this day???
True. Most nuclear waste is contained on the site that created it. It tends only to be moved when the site is decommissioned. Most countries do not have a long term storage plan.
Hope that updates the talking points the way you were looking for.
Funny how everyone is immediately concerned with a few thousands of cubic meters of solid waste that literally loses its harm exponentially quickly and we can store underground while all the billions of tons of toxic liquid and gaseous waste coming from a sleuth of industrial applications (including renewables production) constantly being pumped in the biosphere never get a mention
Wrong.
I watched that video, and while I agree that nuclear waste is safer than fossils fuels, there is still a non-zero risk to storing nuclear waste, especially if you consider how long it remains radioactive.
Would I prefer to live near a nuclear plant or a coal plant? definitely nuclear.
Wind, solar, and renewables are still cleaner than nuclear.
Also burying nuclear waste in what that video says:
[far away from] any geologically active area
With climate change we are seeing extreme weather events and earthquakes more frequently than expected. Who's to say that areas which are currently not active won't become active.
Don't get me wrong, I understand renewables are not going to supply all the power we need right now. I realize that nuclear is the cleaner option (comprlared to fossils fuels).
However, I am still concerned about the nuclear waste. I'm glad they have tight security, and it's good to know the barrels are missile resistant... But nothing is 100% safe. If a terrorist decides to make one of these sites a target, and they have enough money and influence, I'm sure it's possible for them to penetrate security and penetrate those barrels.
Radiation levels are low around the barrels but if contamination occurs that would still be a disaster.
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