Tech firms increasingly look to nuclear power for data center
www.voanews.com
Facilities that power cloud computing and artificial intelligence consume vast amounts of electricity, posing challenges for companies' promises to reach net-zero emissions
  • Warl0k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    3 months ago

    This seems… idk, ideal? Lets use our cleanest & most energy dense means of power generation for our most frivolously expanding waste of energy. Unless we give microsoft authority over the DOE, which we aren’t (maybe IBM tho, they seem like they can be trusted…), I’m not really seeing a downside to this.

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      3 months ago

      IBM can be trusted, lol how easily history forgets.

      1. Involvement with Nazi Germany: During the 1930s and early 1940s.

      2. Apartheid-era South Africa

      3. Antitrust issues, In the 1970s, IBM was the subject of a major antitrust lawsuit by the U.S. government.

      4. disposal of hazardous waste from manufacturing facilities.

      5. outsourcing of jobs to other countries.

      6. IBM has faced multiple lawsuits and investigations for age discrimination.

      7. lobbying for government surveillance .​

    • Vash63@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      3 months ago

      Ideal would be them not reversing a decade of energy savings in the name of AI, but yeah, if they’re going to do that anyway then Nuclear is one of the better options.

    • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Yeah… But why is this being pushed so hard? When the billionaire owned media pushes a message this hard, I can’t help but look for the terrible consequences I’m missing

      • Warl0k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        I think in this case it’s not exceptionally nefarious, just greedy. They’ll save boatloads of money (and be able to centralize their facilities) if these reactors get approved, instead of being forced to pay to upgrade the municipal infrastructure because of the terrific strain they’re placing on it. A massive power source, all for them? Hot diggity.

        • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Well, I think most of them are trying to get the government to split the bill, which I don’t love but I could live with. If they get small scale nuclear working, we might finally actually reduce fossil fuel usage for once

          I just feel like the other shoe is about to drop. Are they going to push to run them themselves, with minimal oversight? Do billionaires want to buy privately owned nuclear reactors for their bunkers?

          I don’t know how this is going to turn bad, I just have a bad feeling

      • 14th_cylon@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        no. safety of bitcoin is based on cryptography, not lack of electrical power. that would be most bizarre case of security through obscurity.

      • Warl0k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        Tbh we probably already have that. Five Eyes is wildly held to control 50% of the TOR nodes, bitcoin cant be that much less of a priority.