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Tuesday, June 09, 2026

World Nuclear News

Renewed Bruce 3 back in service


Just days after it was reconnected to the grid, Canada's Bruce unit 3 has officially returned to service - more than seven months ahead of schedule.

Company officials and ministers were among those who gathered to mark the return to operations of Bruce 3 (Image: Bruce Power)

The Major Component Replacement (MCR) which the Candu unit has undergone saw robotic tools used on a reactor face to rebuild a Candu reactor for the first time. The project also saw Bruce Power and its partners set a Candu refurbishment record for calandria tube removal by completing it 11 days ahead of schedule.

Unit 3 began its Major Component Replacement outage in March 2023 and was originally scheduled to return to service in January 2027. It was reconnected to the grid in the early hours of 3 June, since when Bruce Power continued with power ascension and the final testing and approvals required for commercial operation. Its early completion "is the most expedient refurbishment in Ontario to date and reinforces the province's position as a global leader in nuclear energy", according to Ontario's Ministry of Energy and Mines.

"The Unit 3 MCR project was delivered safely and successfully, continuing Ontario's track record of delivering nuclear refurbishments on time, on budget and with quality by a skilled workforce, industry partners and a robust Made-in-Canada supply chain," Bruce Power said.

The refurbishment means the unit's life has been extended by more than three decades. 

The Major Component Replacement projects are part of Bruce Power's Life-Extension Program to refurbish Bruce units 3-8, to enable the site to operate into the 2060s (units 1 and 2 have already been refurbished). Unit 6's MCR was completed ahead of schedule and under budget in 2024, and, with unit 4's MCR already under way, this represents the midway point for the programme, the company said. Each MCR builds on those that have gone before: unit 3's successful return to service, with key phases completed ahead of schedule, has been supported by innovation and continuous improvement; record-setting execution in critical work programmes, reflecting advancements in tooling, planning and workforce expertise; and ongoing improvements in efficiency and quality driven by lessons learned from earlier refurbishments.

Provisions built into Bruce Power's refurbishment agreement with Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator will ensure that Ontario's citizens benefit from savings realised during the Life-Extension Program and operation of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. Bruce said it is expecting to return about CAD150 million (about USD108 million) to the Independent Electricity System Operator as a result of its performance. 

"With unit 3 now back in service and providing safe, clean, reliable and affordable electricity to the province, we continue to demonstrate that large-scale nuclear projects in Ontario can be delivered safely, efficiently, and with real long term financial benefits for ratepayers," said Eric Chassard, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Power. "This achievement reflects the dedication of our workforce, our skilled trades partners, and the strength of our made-in-Canada nuclear industry."

Bruce Power's Life‑Extension Program directly and indirectly supports some 22,000 jobs annually and contributes billions of dollars each year to Ontario's economy.

"When Ontario successfully completed the world's largest nuclear refurbishment at Darlington ahead of schedule and under budget, critics said it couldn't be done again. Yet again, we are proving them wrong," the province's Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce said.

Australian thorium to fuel Ampera energy system


US-based Ampera has announced that its factory-built, scalable, supercritical nuclear energy system will be fuelled by thorium procured from Australia and produced in-house by the company, as it aims to vertically integrate the entire fuel value chain.
 
(Image: Ampera)

Thorium is a slightly radioactive element that is more than three times as abundant in the Earth's crust as uranium. Although not fissile (capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction in the same way that uranium-235 does in a conventional nuclear reactor), it is 'fertile' - upon absorbing a neutron, it transmutes to fissile uranium-233 - so could be used to 'breed' uranium-233 in reactor fuel. 

Ampera says it is developing subcritical thorium-based microreactor systems that are energy dense and do not require refuelling. Through its proprietary TRISO fuel platform, neutron-source technology and advanced additive manufacturing, it aims to deliver scalable, factory-built, rapidly deployable, emission-free power for data centres, defence, industrial and maritime applications.

In February, Ampera formed Ampera Australia Pty Ltd to expedite the procurement and import of thorium to the USA. This followed the October 2025 announcement by the governments of the USA and Australia of a framework for securing supply in the mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earths.

"Our strategy is to secure thorium directly at the source and vertically integrate the entire fuel value chain, from mineral supply through advanced fuel production," said Ampera founder and CEO Brian Matthews. "Thorium offers a compelling combination of abundance, energy potential, economics, and safety, making it an ideal fuel for Ampera's advanced microreactors and a promising resource for the broader nuclear industry."

The company says its broad fuel platform is built on "proprietary processes protected by trade secrets and more than 60 patents for nuclear fuel manufacturing, including proprietary jetting technology used to produce high-quality safe tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel kernels."

"Thorium is the future for ultra-safe, clean power production," Matthews said. "By producing TRISO thorium kernels in the United States, we can ensure ample access to the needed fuel supply as we scale up and also minimize price volatility risk."

In February, Ampera submitted a formal letter to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission indicating its desire to begin the pre-application process for its factory-fabricated, containerised microreactor, and in April, it entered into a strategic collaboration with Monaco-based shipping company Scorpio Tankers Inc to jointly develop and commercialise advanced microreactors for marine, shipping and related maritime applications. The same month, Ampera opened its global headquarters in Florida. It has said it plans to produce TRISO thorium kernels at another location in the state.

Dummy fuel successfully loaded in Akkuyu 1


The loading of 163 dummy nuclear fuel assemblies in Turkey's Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant’s first unit is a key part of the commissioning process.
 
(Image: Akkuyu Nuclear JSC)

The dummy fuel is designed to be an exact replica of nuclear fuel in design, weight and dimensions, and its loading is key to checking systems for loading the real fuel as well as confirming readiness for the next stage of commissioning operations.

The dummy fuel does not contain any nuclear materials and its loading precedes the cold and hot running tests of reactor plant equipment during the commissioning process for new units, before the reactor starts up.


(Image: Akkuyu Nuclear)


(Image: Akkuyu Nuclear)

The loading of the fuel dummies was carried out under the supervision of Turkey's Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

Sergei Butckikh, CEO of Akkuyu Nuclear, said: "The completion of loading of dummy fuel assemblies at Akkuyu NPP Unit 1 is a full rehearsal for loading nuclear fuel. Using the dummies, we work out procedures for handling nuclear fuel in conditions as close to operational as possible, and confirm the readiness of equipment and personnel for the next pre-launch stage."

Background

Akkuyu, in the southern Mersin province, is Turkey's first nuclear power plant. Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors, under a so-called BOO (build-own-operate) model. According to the terms of the 2010 Intergovernmental Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, the aim was for the commissioning of the first power unit of the nuclear power plant to take place within seven years from receipt of all permits for the construction of the unit.

The licence for the construction of the first unit was issued in 2018, with construction work beginning that year. The first steam generators were shipped to the site - for unit 1 - in August 2020. Nuclear fuel was delivered to the site in April 2023. The aim is for unit 1 to begin supplying Turkey's energy system during 2026.

When the 4,800 MWe plant is completed, it is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey's electricity needs.


Work is taking place on all four units - first concrete for unit 4 (right) was poured in August 2023 (Image: Akkuyu Nuclear)

Turkey has plans for a second nuclear power plant, at Sinop, and has also been in talks with China about plans for a third plant, in the Thrace region in the country's northwest.

The country is also developing plans for small modular reactors, with the aim of adding 5 GWe of capacity by 2050 - which would mean the equivalent of at least 16 individual SMRs.

SMRs to be considered at Romanian port


Emirati multinational logistics company DP World has launched a feasibility study into how small modular reactor technology could help meet the long-term energy needs, growth and decarbonisation of the Port of Constanța in eastern Romania.
 
(Image: DP World)

"As ports electrify and grow, DP World sees access to reliable, low-carbon energy as critical to future competitiveness," the company said. "Rising demand from electrified equipment, shore power, AI data centres, residential heating and industrial activity is placing greater pressure on existing energy systems, driving demand for stable and scalable power. Nuclear energy, including SMRs, has the potential to provide consistent, low-carbon electricity for port operations and wider industrial use."

DP World has signed an agreement with French research organisation Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) and strategy specialist TerraWater Institute to launch a feasibility study into the use of SMRs at the Port of Constanța. At the mouth of the Danube-Black Sea Canal, the port links sea routes into Eastern and Central Europe, with deep-water access for larger vessels.

The study will model projected energy demand at the port from 2030 to 2050, evaluate integrated low-carbon energy systems, and assess the technical, strategic and economic feasibility of nuclear-based solutions. It will also examine safety standards and considerations for surrounding communities, drawing on CEA's expertise in SMR design and nuclear safety.

DP World said the study is intended to inform future decision-making on how best to meet long-term energy needs for the port and the wider economy. Any future development would be subject to further technical assessment, regulatory review and stakeholder engagement, it noted.

"DP World sees the transition to a net-zero economy not only as an environmental imperative, but as a driver of future growth across global trade," said Nicholas Mazzei, VP Sustainability – Europe, DP World. "Nuclear SMRs are not just energy projects for our ports, they are a competitive infrastructure differentiator. This study will help us better understand how nuclear energy can strengthen operational resilience and help meet rising demand. Across Europe, nuclear energy is increasingly recognised as a resilient and cost-effective solution with the potential to underpin the next generation of industrial activity and the supply chains."

Myrto Tripathi, General Director, TerraWater Institute, added: "Ports sit at the intersection of industry, energy systems, and communities. This study is about understanding how future low-carbon energy systems could be designed to meet complex and evolving demands, while maintaining high standards of safety and environmental performance. For energy as for everything, offer should not shape demand and should provide opportunities rather than dictate terms. Industries' needs have to be understood, assessed and met, while decarbonising. This is the only energy paradigm we should strive for and what we are aiming to demonstrate with this study, thanks to nuclear."

"This study brings together expertise in nuclear technology and energy systems to assess how small modular reactors could be integrated into a real port environment," said Stéphane Sarrade, Directeur des Programmes Énergies at CEA. "By working with DP World and TerraWater, we are applying advanced modelling and analysis to better understand how these solutions could support reliable, low-carbon energy for ports."

In September last year, DP World signed a memorandum of understanding with US-based micro-nuclear technology developer Last Energy to establish the world's first port-centric micro-nuclear power plant at London Gateway in the UK. A proposed PWR-20 microreactor - to begin operations in 2030 - would supply London Gateway with 20 MWe of electricity to power the logistics hub, with additional capacity exported to the grid.

Fuel manufactured for Kudankulam 4's initial loading


Nuclear fuel for the initial loading of India’s Kudankulam unit 4 has been manufactured at Elektrostal Machine-Building Plant, part of Rosatom's TVEL fuel division.
 
The product has been accepted by the Indian plant operator (Image: TVEL)

Under the contract agreed in 2024 with the Russian state nuclear corporation, TVEL will supply fuel for the lifetime of the VVER-1000 units, which comprise units 3 and 4 at the plant.

The Kudankulam site, near the southern tip of India, is already home to two Russian VVER-1000 pressurised water reactors - owned and operated by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd - which have been in commercial operation since 2014 (Kudankulam unit 1) and 2017 (unit 2). Four more are currently under construction in two phases: construction of units 3 and 4 began in 2017, with the work on units 5 and 6 beginning in 2021. Two further units - Kudankulam 7 and 8, larger AES-2006 units with VVER-1200 reactors - have been proposed as a fourth phase of the plant.

The first nuclear fuel was delivered for unit 3 in December. It was manufactured at Rosatom's Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant.

Rosatom says that during operation of the first two units, its specialists, together with Indian specialists "have significantly improved their efficiency through the introduction of advanced nuclear fuel and extended fuel cycles. Since 2022, the Kudankulam NPP has been supplied with advanced TVS-2M nuclear fuel. It ensures more reliable and cost-effective operation of the power units due to its rigid structure, a next-generation anti-debris filter, and a higher uranium mass".

It has also led to the time between refuelling shutdowns being extended from 12 months to 18 months. Units 3 and 4 will operate with 18-month fuel cycles from the start.

According to World Nuclear Association information, India currently has 24 operable nuclear reactors totalling 7,943 MW of capacity, with eight reactors - 4,768 MW - under construction. A further 10 units - some 7 GW of capacity - are in pre-project stages.

India has a target to expand its nuclear energy capacity to 100 GW by 2047. It plans to achieve this by a two-pronged approach, with the deployment of large-capacity reactors as well as small modular reactors (SMRs). In August last year Minister of State Jitendra Singh outlined to the country's Parliament the three types of SMR that are being designed and developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for demonstration: the 200 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor (sometimes referred to as BSMR-200); a 55 MWe small modular reactor (SMR); and a 5 MWt high-temperature gas-cooled reactor for hydrogen production by coupling with suitable thermochemical process for hydrogen production.

Orano starts construction at Mongolia uranium project


A ceremony at the Zuuvch Ovoo site marked the start of the construction phase for implementation of the project in Mongolia.

(Image: Orano)

"Yesterday, in the presence of Mr Batjargal Ochirpurev, Governor of the Dornogobi province, Mr Ganburen Gansukh, Governor of the Ulaanbadrakh sum and Mr Manlaijav Gun-Aajav, Secretary of the Nuclear Energy Commission, we celebrated a decisive milestone in the implementation of this strategic project led by Orano and its subsidiary Badrakh Energy, alongside our Mongolian partners," Orano Chairman Claude Imauven said on LinkedIn. 

"As our two countries celebrated the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2025, Zuuvch Ovoo illustrates our shared commitment to developing a strategic project that creates sustainable value for Mongolia and the Dornogobi Province," he added, before thanking the Mongolian authorities, Orano's partners, and the teams at Badrakh Energy and Orano "for their commitment to this exemplary cooperation".

Mongolia has substantial uranium resources - as of 2023, according to World Nuclear Association's information library, its 144,600 tU of uranium resources put it 10th in the world. Although it has been mined there in the past - in conjunction with Russian interests - no  uranium has been mined in Mongolia since the mid-1990s when mining at the Dornod mine, operated by a subsidiary of Russia's Priargunsky Industrial Mining & Chemical Union, ceased.


Image: Orano

Orano Mining has been present in Mongolia for more than 25 years, and has been carrying out exploration in the Gobi Desert since 1997, according to information from the company. The Zuuvch Ovoo deposit was discovered in 2010. In January 2025, Orano and the Government of Mongolia signed an investment agreement to develop and operate the project, in the south-eastern Dornogovi province.

The project will use in-situ leach (ISL, also known as in-situ recovery, or ISR) methods, demonstrated in pilot operations in 2021-2022. Development is planned to take 4 years. The project will have a nominal production capacity of about 2,500 tU per year for a 30-year estimated lifespan, creating 1,600 direct and indirect jobs.

Under the terms of the investment agreement, more than 51% of the direct benefits generated by the project will be received by the Mongolian state.

KHNP says EC has dropped foreign subsidy probe into Czech project

The European Commission has informed Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power that it will not initiate an in-depth investigation under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation regarding the Dukovany nuclear power plant project in the Czech Republic.
 
Dukovany (Image: CEZ)

The Czech government selected Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) as its preferred bidder in July 2024 for two new units near the current Dukovany nuclear power plant, about 200 kilometres southeast of Prague. Two more units at the Temelín nuclear power plant are also being considered. The engineering, procurement and construction contract was signed in June 2025, for two APR-1000 units at a projected cost of CZK407 billion (USD18.6 billion). The aim is to start construction in 2029.

France's EDF, which had been eliminated from the bidding process, launched legal challenges against the contract decision. The company's objections to the tender process included the belief that the KHNP offer price and the inclusion of a guarantee that the construction would not be delayed or become more expensive, would be "unfeasible without illegal state aid given the prices in the nuclear industry". EDF said that if their rival bidder had state support it would breach European Union rules. KHNP rejected EDF's claims and said "we emphasise that we have not received any subsidies that could damage or distort fair competition in relation to the project".

In response, the European Commission (EC) launched a preliminary review of KHNP and 'Team Korea' - the winning consortium of Korean companies that includes KHNP - in February 2025 to independently examine matters related to the new nuclear power plant project in the Czech Republic. The EU Extraterritorial Subsidy Regulation is a system designed to assess whether financial contributions provided to companies by non-EU countries distort competition in the EU market.

"KHNP and Team Korea faithfully cooperated with the preliminary review process by submitting relevant materials and explaining necessary matters in accordance with the request of the EC," KHNP said. "As a result, the EC completed the preliminary review and finally notified KHNP on 5 June that it had decided not to initiate an in-depth investigation."

"This decision is an official judgement made by the EU after directly reviewing the relevant issues," Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan was quoted as saying by The Chosun Daily. "It is a result of confirming that KHNP and Team Korea have faithfully complied with international norms and EU laws and systems while pursuing the project."

Czech Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček said on social media platform X, that the EC decision "to close the preliminary review under the Regulation on distortive foreign subsidies affecting the internal market ... is good news for this project and for the development of the nuclear industry and the future assurance of energy security in the Czech Republic and the European Union".

There has been a separate EC review taking place relating to the Czech new nuclear plan - in April 2024 the EC approved the original Czech government funding plan for a single new nuclear reactor at the Dukovany nuclear power plant site, but in October last year the Czech Republic officially notified the EC it had expanded its plans to two new nuclear units. The following month, the EC announced it had launched an inquiry into Czech funding plan for new nuclear. At the time it said it had doubts about whether it was fully in line with EU State aid rules and wanted to ensure that "no more aid than necessary is ultimately granted. In particular, the Commission has doubts on whether the proposed package achieves an appropriate balance between reducing risks to enable the investment and maintaining incentives for efficient behaviour, while avoiding excessive risk transfer to the State".

Ceremony to mark first concrete for Uzbekistan SMR


A groundbreaking ceremony and the symbolic pouring of first concrete have taken place to mark the official start of construction of the first small modular reactor in Uzbekistan.
 
(Image: Valery Sharifulin/TASS/Kremlin.ru)

The presidents of Uzbekistan and Russia, meeting in St Petersburg, joined the event via video link, with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi among those attending in person.

Azim Akhmedkhadzhaev, Director of the Uzbekistan Atomic Energy Agency, said: "Today, we are not simply laying the first concrete for the nuclear power plant's foundation. We are laying the foundation for a bright and sustainable future for the Republic of Uzbekistan. This integrated nuclear power plant will symbolise a new technological stage for our country - a stage of energy independence, industrial growth, and environmental security."

"Uzbekistan is confidently moving to the forefront of the global energy sector, strengthening its sovereignty and opening new horizons for innovative development. We are building more than just a power plant - we are laying the foundation for a new era of prosperity, technological leadership, and well-being for future generations of Uzbeks."


The IAEA's director general was at the ceremony (Image: Uzatom)

First concrete followed the Committee for Industrial, Radiation, and Nuclear Safety under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan issuing a licence on 4 June to the general contractor for the construction of the nuclear power plant unit's first unit, a Russian-made RITM-200N.

The planned plant

A contract signed in May 2024, during a visit to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, was originally for the construction of a 330 MW capacity nuclear power plant featuring six units of the RITM-200N water-cooled small modular reactor (SMR), which is adapted from nuclear-powered icebreakers' technology, with thermal power of 190 MW or 55 MWe and with an intended service life of 60 years. The first unit was scheduled to go critical in late 2029 with units commissioned one by one.

In 2025 a supplemental agreement to the contract for the new nuclear power plant - in the Jizzakh region - covered the decision to change its contents to two gigawatt-scale VVER-1000 units and two SMRs. This increased the proposed capacity to more than 2,100 MWe, compared with the previous 330 MWe.


Concrete work at the site began in March (Image: Rosatom)

Excavation work began in October last year for the pit for the first of the SMRs at the site. About 1.5 million cubic metres of soil were excavated during the digging of a pit 13 metres deep. In March this year, Rosatom said that about 900 cubic metres were being poured during the concrete foundation work for the reactor building. That was due for completion in April and it said that the foundation has since been levelled and waterproofed before the pouring of the first concrete for the reactor building's foundation slab.

What the presidents said

President Putin said: "The fact that Russia and Uzbekistan are implementing such a truly flagship high-tech project is a shining example of the friendship and alliance between our two countries ... the project will provide related orders for many Uzbek companies: new jobs will be created, and local contractors will be actively involved in installation, material supply, transportation, and other services. In total, approximately 15,000 people are expected to be employed at the construction site.

"Importantly, Russia will not only build the nuclear power plant but also provide its Uzbek partners with a preferential export loan and support throughout the plant's entire lifecycle. This includes commitments for long-term reactor fuel supplies, servicing and maintenance, and spent nuclear material management. Essentially, with our country's assistance, a national high-tech nuclear industry is being developed in Uzbekistan."

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said: "Today, we are launching not just the next stage of an infrastructure project, but are participating in an historic event. We are ushering in a new era of technological, industrial, and scientific development for our country. In Uzbekistan, the foundations are being laid for the development of a new field - modern nuclear energy - an industry that symbolises advanced scientific capabilities, cutting-edge engineering expertise, and a strategic vision for the future.

"It is important to note that this project ... is unique in the world; it combines the latest advances in small-scale nuclear generation and large-scale baseload energy."

The IAEA's Grossi noted the uniqueness of the project - which features the first export order for any SMR - and added: "I see investors from other countries here, and they're interested in this project. This project will also contribute to the development of the digital economy, data centres, and other opportunities."

Andrey Petrov, First Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy at Rosatom, said: "Uzbekistan is embarking on a path of accelerated high-tech development, and Rosatom is honoured to be part of this historic process. Once operational, the nuclear power plant will be able to meet up to 14% of the country's energy needs. Moreover, the nuclear city project we proposed to Uzbekistan will create a new community. The nuclear power plant will be more than just a small town; it will be a true science city - a showcase for cutting-edge nuclear and related technologies."

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Friday, June 05, 2026

 Everybody Hates Data Centers

Anarchists, union activists, Indigenous organizers, and disgruntled Trumpists find themselves side by side in the fight.
June 5, 2026

Environmental advocates and progressive lawmakers hold a rally in support of legislation that would put a moratorium on new data centers in the state on May 13, 2026, at the Capitol in Albany, New York.Will Waldron / Albany Times Union via Getty Images


Between 4,000 and 5,000 data centers are actively humming in the U.S. right now, draining energy and, in the case of some of the hyperscale ones, consuming as much as 5 million gallons of water per day. Even this does not satisfy the demand cultivated by the tech industry, however: At least 3,000 more data centers are under construction or planned, prompting a diverse grassroots mobilization against their construction.

Indigenous people are resisting continued attempts to exploit their land, air, and water. Rural white folks, some of whom voted for Donald Trump, are now going door to door, outraged about rising electricity costs and water shortages.

Opposition to data centers has put labor unions in motion, with the Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Michigan using the slogan “AI is not inevitable,” seeing artificial intelligence as a dystopian force made possible through data centers. These efforts represent the front line in the struggle against attempts by high-tech billionaires to create a dismal world in which they hold all the power and the rest of us serve their interests.

“There’s this big techno-feudal battle happening right now. We’re watching an Empire crumble, right?” Krystal Two Bulls, an Oglala Lakota/Northern Cheyenne anti-data center organizer with the activist group Honor the Earth, told me. “Technology is the last frontier, and whoever has the most advanced generative AI has the power at this moment.”

l
Want to Resist a Data Center? These Organizers Share How They Did It.
Organizers from Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Arizona share strategies for resisting data centers in other communities. By Derek Seidman , Truthout  April 19, 2026

Native Americans are some of those leading the organizing against data centers, from Virginia and upstate New York, though Montana, the Dakotas, Arizona, and Oregon. According to Honor the Earth, a national Indigenous sovereignty organization, there are currently at least 106 data centers being proposed on or near Native land.

Data centers are the material constructs enabling the perpetuation of large language models (LLMs), commonly referred to as a form of “intelligence.” LLMs aggregate knowledge and then generate information based upon processing and sorting huge inputs of words, but despite advances in their ability to differentiate between believable scenarios and nonsense, in most ways the algorithm still operates linguistically rather than conceptually. It’s not smart, it’s just massive.

Developed within the framework of capitalism, artificial intelligence threatens human civilization in several ways. In addition to its use by corporations to rapidly replace human labor — both blue-collar assembly line and white-collar administrative positions — there are genuine fears by many involved in its development that AI might someday not only take human jobs, but also lead to the mass destabilization of human societies, increasingly repressive surveillance regimes, or in the most alarmist imaginings, even an existential risk to human survival. Future killing machines like something from the Terminator films aside, AI is already being used to choose targets — and this process has resulted in the murder of Iranian school children and people in Gaza.

As Krystal Two Bulls argues:


Generative AI is being used to surveil citizens, violating our right to privacy, and then that is being turned around and used for military purposes. We can see the connection directly to violence. As Native peoples we honor the Earth, which is why it is so important to resist the construction of these data centers and the entirety of the AI infrastructure.

Looking at the global context in which AI is being developed, these construction projects drive us further from an adequate response to the climate crisis. We have known for several decades that continuing to burn fossil fuels will destroy the unique climate that supports human flourishing on Earth. It is imperative that we stop extracting and burning them, yet with Trump’s return to power and Republicans in both chambers of Congress, what little progress was made in the U.S. is being reversed. This is happening at the very moment we are approaching various climate tipping points, accelerating climate collapse.


“It’s about utilities and humming noises and water usage, definitely, but even more so it is about the way Big Tech has continually extracted with no punishment.”

For the last 20 years, the Tonawanda Seneca Nation in western New York has resisted industrial development at the site of the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP). The 1,250-acre sprawling site is located next to Big Woods, a natural area of cultural and practical significance for the Seneca Nation, as well as a federal and state-recognized wildlife refuge. The nearby white settlement effort to site a data center here led the Seneca Nation’s chiefs’ council to ask Grandell “Bird” Hallett Logan — the community language resource coordinator at the reservation — to be the spokesperson for the Seneca Nation. Logan told me that the organizing began with Native people from his community, but in time, a group developed called the Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, bringing together people from the Seneca Nation with those from the non-Native community elsewhere in the state.

According to the Sierra Club, a nondisclosure agreement signed by the Genesee County Development Center prevents the community from even knowing which tech giant the data center would serve. Before work can begin on the site, the planning board of the local town of Alabama, New York, has to ​​​​approve the project, and it must receive a state environmental review, opening up several avenues to stop it. In addition, the data center’s opponents are also considering a lawsuit, which could delay or prevent its construction entirely.

Logan explained how they are organizing: “Much of our messaging is about how our customs and usage are at risk due to environmental harm. We worry that this noise pollution from a data center would cause the animals nearby to flee.” Discussing the support that the Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation have received from the surrounding non-Native community, Logan said, “Some people are supportive of us because they see how their county, their state, is acting in ways that continue to harm our customs, and they’d prefer that their government not take part in such actions.”


Los Alamos National Lab Data Center



Los Alamos National Laboratory, founded in 1943 for the Manhattan Project and instrumental in the development of the first atomic bombs, is planning to build a $1.25 billion data center on acreage that the University of Michigan, which is based in Ann Arbor, purchased nearby in Ypsilanti Township. Workers at the university, some of whom previously did Palestine solidarity work and organized around how AI is affecting teaching, have now taken up the struggle to stop the data center.

Nathan Kim, a member of the University of Michigan Graduate Employees’ Union who previously helped run workshops like an AI “Workers’ Inquiry,” told me that he found the opposition against the data center in the surrounding community inspiring, bringing campus union workers into coalition with people living near the campus. This “shifted how I thought about politics — it wasn’t the case that everything was hopeless, but instead that people would continue to fight back, and always would,” Kim said.

People across the U.S. are in motion against data center construction. As Kim observes, “The reality of this issue being mobilizing in new and interesting ways meant that many people were angry, but few people saw themselves as leaders from the outset.”

This is common when social or environmental issues impact local communities. One can think of the people affected by contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan, or those impacted by toxic waste in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York. People experience anger and anxiety, often followed by frustration over their interactions with local officials. With regard to data centers, Kim said: “People seem to have a built-up resentment and hatred of Big Tech that data centers have become an outlet for. It’s about utilities and humming noises and water usage, definitely, but even more so it is about the way Big Tech has continually extracted with no punishment.”


We can use the space of the emerging, imperfect coalitions against the data centers to create openings to redirect anger away from scapegoats and toward the systems of power.

What is noteworthy about how people are organizing against data centers in this part of Michigan is the utilization of the type of horizontal structures that came out of the anti-authoritarian organizing of the anti-globalization movement at the turn of the century and the subsequent Occupy movement.

As Samantha Stewart, who lives in Ypsilanti Township and is involved in the struggle against the data center, says about the campaign, “It’s designed with a spokescouncil style, so there are a million working groups (literally I know of 17 that meet regularly) all doing what makes sense to them to stop the data center.”

In a traditional spokescouncil model, smaller affinity groups and working groups send delegates to a spokescouncil to make decisions. “There are big monthly meetings where everyone comes together, they always have food and child care. No one is in charge; each working group does what it wants to stop the data center,” Stewart explained, adding that what holds this free-wheeling assembly together are “some small working agreements, just that we don’t condemn each other publicly … and that we don’t collaborate with police in the prosecution of each other.”

Organizing against data centers in Michigan has brought together people with many types of backgrounds. “Ypsilanti is more working-class with a very active anarchist movement … But the fight against data centers in Michigan as a whole is very diverse,” Kim points out. For example, he said he went to an organizing “meetup once in Augusta housed in a barn that was a U of M football watch party room and had ‘Faith, Family, Freedom’ dangling over the door.” Kim says, in his organizing work, that “encounters are somewhat frequent” with Trump supporters. But, as Stewart points out, “The campaign has been so welcoming!”

Stewart added:


People hate the data centers for all sorts of reasons! The serious negative health consequences are really concerning to a lot of people. People are worried about increased bills and the destruction of our beloved park. Lots of people are against escalating war, and really worry about [associating with labs known for] developing nuclear weapons, or that we will be a military target based on this facility.

Stewart said that when she has “gone out knocking on doors, there have been a ton of folks with Trump yard signs who absolutely hate the data center. The Republicans struggle because they mostly don’t have organizing experience and aren’t sure how to get things done together.”

Trying to stop the data center has brought these disparate groups together. “We are a multiracial and very trans organizing group, so we don’t gel super well with them, but they do their own stuff and we do coordinate,” Stewart said.

Addressing the diverse nature of data center opposition in Michigan, Kim said: “I see the left’s job today to understand the kernel of truth at the heart of each Trump voter’s beliefs,” and then to “identify how that can be met with a transformative socialist vision where we take care of each other, can have our basic necessities met, and stand for peace.”


Trump Coalition Fissures



The tech and fossil fuel industries are two of the biggest sections of the ruling class backing Trump and the current transformation of the U.S. into a more openly authoritarian state. But fissures are starting to open up within sections of the grassroots MAGA movement. First, Steve Bannon and other MAGA activists expressed their racist, anti-immigrant opposition to Big Tech’s desire to grant visas to highly skilled workers. MAGA members have also expressed dissent for the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, as well as the broader U.S. policy of providing Israel with financial and military support, including throughout its genocide of Palestinians and its war on Lebanon. Now many people who voted for Trump several times are opposing the construction in their communities of the tech industry’s sacred data centers.


“I want to build trust and bravery across a broad group of people so that we are ready for the next thing we need to fight.”

As Indigenous people, union organizers, and those on the left come into contact with these disgruntled Trumpists, the opportunity exists to develop mutual understandings. Perhaps these encounters will widen the worldview of those who follow Trump and who are hostile to other working people, including those who have recently arrived in the U.S. looking for a better life.

The process of widening a person’s worldview entails hard discussions. If we approach these with a strong understanding of the material grievances that draw people toward Trumpism, we can use the space of the emerging, imperfect coalitions against the data centers to create openings to redirect anger away from scapegoats and toward the systems of power driving ecological destruction, exploitation, and war. This presents an opportunity to cultivate a unifying understanding of the role of class oppression and how to resist capitalist exploitation.

The struggle against data centers is but one front in the fight against rising authoritarianism and ecological collapse. It is an issue that resonates across political divides, opening opportunities, and potentially sparking a larger movement. Stewart has the necessary long-range perspective, saying: “I want to build trust and bravery across a broad group of people so that we are ready for the next thing we need to fight.”


This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.


Paul Messersmith-Glavin


Paul Messersmith-Glavin is a longtime organizer whose work has appeared in Waging Nonviolence, New Politics, Upping the Anti, and the Oregonian, as well as Dan Berger and Emily K. Hobson’s Remaking Radicalism: A Grassroots Documentary Reader of the United States, 1973-2001. He works as a mentor with the Institute for Social Ecology and is part of the Perspectives journal collective whose book, Visions and Interventions: 30 Years of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory (AK Press) comes out this July.



Be less polite: How to cut your AI impact as UN report reveals data centre energy use rivals nations

FILE - Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is visible Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, Ga.
Copyright AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File

By Angela Symons with AP
Published on


"That extra ‘please’ you put there can make a huge difference,” says one of the report's authors.

The environmental footprint of data centres already rivals some of the world's largest countries, according to a United Nations University report released on 3 June.

Their water use, energy use and pollution is predicted to double in just four years as use of artificial intelligence grows.

Much of the growth of data centres is being driven by AI. About 20 per cent of data centres’ energy is currently due to AI, but that should grow to 40 per cent by 2030, the report said.

AI users can reduce the climate impact of their queries by less polite and more concise in their queries, one of the report's authors advises.

The majority of people – 70 per cent – are polite to AI when interacting with it, according to a survey carried out by British publisher Future in 2024. Of the respondents, 55 per cent said they do this because "it's just the nice thing to do", while 12 per cent said it was because "when the robot uprising happens, I don't want to come first".

Related

Electricity use equal to that of Argentina

Last year, global data centres used 448 trillion watt-hours of electricity, more than all but 10 countries of the world, said the report. That electricity use produced about 189 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, about the same amount as Argentina, and producing that much energy consumed about 4.5 trillion litres of water, according to the report on the environmental consequences of AI's energy use.

By 2030, data centres will account for nearly three per cent of the world's projected electricity use, with 935 trillion watt-hours. If data centres were a country, the country would be projected to rank sixth-highest in power use in 2030. That would produce nearly 399 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the report said. The study focused on energy use and didn’t examine the massive amount of water used to cool data centres.

“If you look at these numbers, we're seeing scales comparable to nations,” says study co-author Kaveh Madani, a water scientist and director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Canada. “The demand is enormous.”

First global look at ecological impact of data centres

The report is significant because of the credibility and authority of the UN, not just because of any one set of eye-popping numbers, says Fengqi You, a Cornell University energy engineering professor who directs the college’s AI sustainability issues.

“Its value is that a UN institution is putting carbon, water, land, life-cycle impacts and environmental justice into one frame” for an issue that is often shrouded in secrecy and partial disclosures, says You, who was not part of the report.

“The general public should be concerned, but not panicked,” he adds.

Jean Su, director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the report is important because it is the first UN, or even global, report “that shines a light on the environmental harms of AI”.

Relate

National Artificial Intelligence Association President Caleb Max emphasises how his industry is becoming more efficient and how it benefits the public: “AI is rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives and adding benefits that improve safety, [help people] live longer, work more efficiently, enhance food production, and reduce poverty. The evidence is growing daily that the energy return on investment of AI development is transformative for our world and therefore more than worth it.”

Josh Levi, president the Data Center Coalition, says the industry takes its environmental impact seriously.

“We remain committed to working with policymakers, local communities, and industry partners to ensure that as data centres grow, they do so responsibly, transparently, and in ways that reflect the best available practices,” he said in a statement.

The report came just after Californian city Monterey Park became the first in the US to vote for a permanent ban on data centres on Tuesday (2 June).

How much energy your query uses and how to trim it

Madani, also the winner of the most recent of the Stockholm Water Prize, says the numbers show the environmental cost of AI, which may seem cleaner at first glance than other mechanical devices, such as cars and furnaces, that have visible pollution.

"AI is not just a virtual thing. We’re talking about something that has physics, something that has real impacts. There is infrastructure there. There is energy that is being used," Madani says. "A lot of hardware is behind all these operations that to us seem very, very clean because we don’t see smoke out of our devices. On our cellphone, there is no visible smoke or out of our computer or something. But somewhere else someone is suffering."

People can reduce AI’s massive energy appetite by being less polite and more concise in their queries, Madani says. The report found that cutting word use in requests by 30 per cent can reduce energy used by AI by 25 per cent. That would save about the same amount of electricity as what about 700,000 people in Africa use in a year, the report said.

Fans, part of a cooling system, are visible on the roof of a data center April 27, 2026, in Hillsboro, Ore. AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File

“If you’re too polite, then that extra ‘please’ you put there can make a huge difference,” Madani says. “You’ve got to be very precise and be short.”

A typical ChatGPT-style query is about 200 times more energy-intensive than the type of basic text classification used in an email spam filter, for example. AI-generated images or video require much more energy.

And the more complicated the AI, the more energy it takes to train or learn. The report said GPT-3 used about 1.3 billion watt-hours to train, but the next version used 50 to 70 billion watt-hours.

But it's not training that really feasts on power, says study co-author Miriam Aczel, a United Nations University environmental policy researcher. About 90 per cent of the power use of AI comes from operational requests, she says. GPT alone accounts for 2.5 billion prompts a day, she says.

Efficiency still means more power use

Even though tech advocates can argue that their machines are becoming more efficient, there's a common paradox that finds when things get more efficient, they are used more often and total energy use soars even if individual uses are more efficient, Madani says.

While some companies tout the use of renewable energy for data centres, Madani says that means the supply of clean electricity is depleted and thus dirtier energy is used elsewhere.

One of the problems in conducting this study is that many companies and places are not transparent about what data centres and AI are consuming or even where and how big they are, Aczel and Madani say.

“We cannot manage what companies do not disclose,” Cornell's You says.


Data Centers Are Driving Demand For Gas From Northwest Utilities, Reports Find


File photo of a data center facility near Boardman, Oregon. (Photo by Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle)


Oregon Capital Chronicle
By Alex Baumhardt


(Oregon Capital Chronicle) — Electric utilities in Washington and Oregon are turning to gas to meet rapid and growing energy demand from data centers, according to recent reports.

Two analyses from the Hood River-based conservation organization Columbia Riverkeeperand the Seattle-based think tank Sightline Institute show that a growing number of Northwest utility companies are spending on new gas-powered energy infrastructure or buying gas-powered energy from other states to power new demand from data centers.

In some counties, public utility districts are permitting gas-powered generators to provide data centers with backup energy, rather than waiting for them to get more power from the grid, and some data center companies are hooking up their own on-site gas generators. For their part, data center companies said they are investing in communities when they show up and working with utilities to find the cleanest energy possible.


The effect is that both Oregon and Washington are at risk of missing established emission reduction targets meant to help curb the impacts of global warming, researchers found. And a growing number of utilities are using booming data center demand to justify skirting climate rules in both states that mostly ban the build-out of new gas infrastructure, citing the need for regional energy reliability.

“In the absence of enough renewable energy supply, we’re seeing utilities turn more to gas in this situation,” said Audrey Leonard, staff attorney at Columbia Riverkeeper and one of the authors of the group’s report. “That is new, because up until the last few years we were making progress towards our clean energy targets in Washington and Oregon. We were really diversifying our clean energy mix, and it was always going to be a challenge — we definitely had work to do — but the way I characterize this is that data centers are turning that challenge into a crisis.”

Representatives for some of the biggest data center owners in the region said they are doing their part to connect to existing clean energy sources and invest in new renewable projects in both states, and that their presence is a boon for communities, not a burden.

“Amazon is committed to being a responsible neighbor in Oregon, where we’ve invested more than $60 billion since 2010 through infrastructure and jobs,” said Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokesperson. Callahan said the company’s data centers in the region are 10% more energy efficient than the industry average and that the company has invested in massive wind and solar projects across Oregon.

Morgan Babinec, a Microsoft spokesperson, emailed the Capital Chronicle a link to a company presentation espousing the company’s data center benefits in Washington. It notes that Microsoft has “committed to achieving 100% renewable energy coverage globally by 2025,” and that “our data centers in Washington are transitioning the backup generators to use a renewable biofuel that reduces net carbon emissions.”
Missing targets

Under a 2020 executive order from former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, state leaders and agencies have passed laws and policies meant to reduce Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions to 45% below 1990 levels by 2035 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Until recently, the state was on track to meet those targets, according to 2023 Oregon Department of Energy modeling. But in October, department officials reported that given the massive rise in energy demand for data centers, along with Trump administration rollbacks of federal clean energy policies and fuel economy standards for cars, the state wouldn’t hit its 2035 goals until 2037.

To meet both Oregon and Washington’s climate goals — which include electrifying almost the entire transportation sector in both states by 2050 — the states also need to replace at least 65 million megawatt hours of existing coal and gas power generation with power generated by renewable sources such as wind and solar, the Columbia Riverkeeper researchers wrote.

Instead, federal energy officials have used data centers as a justification for keeping Washington’s largest coal-burning power plant running late last year, despite state laws requiring it to be shut down. And Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s largest utility, has contracted for six new gas turbines to be built at a new gas power plant at an undisclosed site in Washington, according to Sightline Institute.


Natural gas is almost entirely methane, a potent greenhouse gas that, when burned, emits carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide and methane are the main heat-trapping gases causing global warming.
Gas-powered workarounds to clean energy mandates

Of the more than 100 electric utilities in Oregon and Washington, two private investor-owned utilities — PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric — and four public utility districts and cooperatives have absorbed nearly all the region’s new data center loads in the past decade, according to a 2025 Sightline Institute analysis.

Five of those utilities rely today on buying far more “unspecified power” from wholesale electricity markets to meet customer demand than they did a decade ago. Unspecified power is almost always natural gas or coal, and the Washington State Department of Ecology estimates emissions from unspecified sources are roughly equal to natural gas emissions.

In Oregon, unspecified power purchases have driven up what were relatively low emissions from consumer-owned utilities since 2019, according to Oregon Department of Environmental Quality data. Most of the increase is from the Umatilla Electric Cooperative buying more unspecified power to meet demand from Amazon data centers in recent years, the department found.

Callahan, the Amazon representative, said the company recently made a deal with the Umatilla Cooperative to choose the energy supply used for its data centers rather than leaving it up to the utility to buy the cheapest option on the wholesale market.

Still, the company seeks more backup and reliable power when it urgently needs it, and the Oregon environmental quality department recently fined an Amazon data center in Hermiston for violating its air quality permit by running an emergency diesel generator for 50 hours more than allowed.

Although Oregon and Washington have mostly prohibited building new gas power plantsor importing more gas-powered electricity, both offer some workarounds. In each state, utilities can seek exemptions if they claim overall reliability is in jeopardy or the costs are too high to procure clean energy. And in Oregon, the climate protection rules only apply to investor-owned utilities.

Utility commissioners in central Washington’s Grant County, where a public utility district provides power for at least 27 data centers, recently cited a lack of transmission capacity to approve plans for the company VoltaGrid to build a new 12-megawatt methane gas power plant to supply a hyperscale data center campus owned by the multinational tech company Vantage.

It will include 14 mobile gas engines that are enclosed in a semi-tractor trailer, according to the Columbia Riverkeeper report. To fuel the plant, VoltaGrid plans show the company would truck gas from the city of Moses Lake to Quincy, requiring 16 trips daily between the cities.

Grant County Public Utility District commissioners are also weighing new gas-fired power plants near Moses Lake or Quincy, and possibly investing in a natural gas plant in Idaho, a state without emission reduction targets, according to Columbia Riverkeeper’s account of a January 2026 commission workshop.


At that meeting, commissioners considered multiple proposals, including a new 40- to 120-megawatt gas-fired plant in the county, and 10 to 20 megawatts of natural gas fuel cell generators.
Another way

Sightline Institute researchers noted that much of the rush to build out gas infrastructure for data centers is to ensure enough energy to power peak demand, such as when residential heaters and air conditioners are running during extreme weather, on top of the overall base-load needed to serve customers consistently throughout the year.

Laura Feinstein, author of the Sightline report on new gas power being sought for data centers, recommended lawmakers in Oregon and Washington take a similar approach as officials in Texas, requiring that data centers power down when demand from most other customers is high and the grid is stressed.

A 2025 study from industry consultancy Energy and Environmental Economics, also known as E3, has been used in a growing number of cases to justify allowing more gas onto the grid in the Northwest for data centers, according to Feinstein, because the consultants said 9 gigawatts of energy would be needed by 2030. That would mean in the next four years roughly doubling the total amount of energy currently powering Oregon today.

But a separate study by Sylvan Energy Analytics, a firm founded by former E3 consultants, found that power would be unnecessary if Oregon and Washington required data centers to power down during demand spikes.

Leonard from Columbia Riverkeeper similarly cautioned against building out more fossil-fuel energy to meet data center demand, given unpredictability over how much energy the centers will actually use in the next few decades. She said the data center industry often inflates how much energy it will need.


“Because the energy demand of data centers is something that varies widely, data centers should not be used to justify new gas infrastructure,” she said.


Can AI Save More Energy Than It Consumes?

By Haley Zaremba - Jun 05, 2026
  • Biglaw firm Duane Morris argues the energy sector's greatest AI-related risk is not surging power demand but failing to adopt AI tools fast enough to remain competitive.

  • MIT research challenges industry claims that AI efficiency gains will offset its enormous energy consumption, while new data centers continue to be approved at record pace.

  • AI shows genuine promise in clean energy applications -- from nuclear fusion modeling to EV battery recovery -- but the AI investment boom is simultaneously diverting capital away from next-gen energy research.

The artificial intelligence boom has created unprecedented pressure and anxiety in the energy industry. The public and private sector alike are expending enormous amounts of effort trying to quantify the amount of electricity that will be needed to power data centers in the near future, and get ahead of the skyrocketing energy demands headed for our already outdated and beleaguered electric grids. But the answer to the energy monster that AI is unleashing could very well lie in the application of AI tools.

A new article published by Biglaw firm Duane Morris argues that the most prescient AI-related risk for the energy industry is not the one posed by the demands of the sector itself, but the risk of falling behind in AI integration and application. The firm argues that the energy sector has an obligation to consider the ways in which large language models can be an asset, concluding that "AI should not be viewed only through the lens of risk avoidance."

"The risks of AI remain real and must be governed thoughtfully," the Energy Intelligence article goes on to say. "But in a sector responsible for critical infrastructure, the greater long-term risk may not be using AI too aggressively -- it may be failing to use it enough."

Indeed, proponents of AI adoption argue that although training and operating large language models eats up an enormous amount of energy (not to mention other finite resources such as water), AI will be instrumental in making a wide array of industries significantly more energy-efficient. In fact, through these widespread efficiencies, some experts say that AI has the potential to save more energy than it consumes overall.

However, critics say that these claims are overblown and the result of wishful thinking rather than rigorous modelling. A 2025 report from MIT challenges such claims, pointing out that touted efficiency gains have not yet come to fruition, and may not be forthcoming. And while numbers on AI's efficiency gains -- and even the amount of energy that AI is currently using -- are still lacking, new data centers are being greenlit at lightning speed.

"AI's integration into almost everything from customer service calls to algorithmic 'bosses' to warfare is fueling enormous demand," the Washington Post wrote in an article published last summer. "Despite dramatic efficiency improvements, pouring those gains back into bigger, hungrier models powered by fossil fuels will create the energy monster we imagine."

Moreover, it is just this fear of 'being left behind' that's fuelling the AI boom, arguably even more than actual demand. There is question as to whether rapid AI integration into everything from our energy grids to our electric toothbrushes -- no, really -- is going to create a more sophisticated and energy-efficient world, or whether it's just a resource-intensive bid to stay relevant in a rapidly changing global economy.

Wherever you stand on the issue of AI integration, it's increasingly clear that AI has some extremely promising applications in next-gen clean energy technologies. Researchers are using large language models to conduct "needle in a haystack" type inquiries to find the best methods and materials to advance nuclear fusion modelling, for example. In the renewable energy sector, AI is being used to improve forecasting of energy supply and demand for greater grid stability. And AI could even soon be used to give new life to dead EV batteries.

The massive energy needs of AI are also pushing increasing and intensified research efforts into cutting edge clean energy technologies such as nuclear fusion, advanced geothermal, and space-based solar power. But Big Tech is running on natural gas while it powers research into these clean energy ambitions. And, overall, research into next-gen energy is suffering from the AI gold rush as investors redirect their attention.

AI's role in the energy sector is anything but simple. And it's true that avoiding AI integration entirely won't solve the problem. But if the energy sector is going to eschew risk aversion and lean into the AI boom as Duane Morris suggests, it needs to have a strong policy foundation and a much smarter AI strategy going forward.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

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