Nuclear startups are increasingly looking to data centers as demand for reliable electricity surges with the growth of AI. TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, is among the companies pursuing that opportunity and is expected to announce its first data center project this year.
The company has not disclosed the customer. In January, however, TerraPower announced that Meta had agreed to buy eight of its Natrium power plants. Its first reactor is already under construction in Wyoming, while the planned data center project is expected to break ground in 2027.
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Why Energy Storage Matters
TerraPower’s main advantage could be its approach to energy storage.
Nuclear reactors are designed to operate most efficiently at full capacity. U.S. nuclear plants generate at maximum power around 92.5% of the time, but conventional reactors can adjust their output relatively slowly. Even newer small modular reactors can face economic challenges when operating below capacity because nuclear plants are expensive to build.
That creates a problem for AI data centers, where electricity demand can change rapidly as GPUs handle training workloads and user requests. Batteries can help smooth those fluctuations, but add another layer of cost.
Storing Heat Instead Of Cutting Reactor Output
TerraPower’s 345-megawatt Natrium reactor takes a different approach. Rather than quickly increasing or reducing the reactor’s output, it continues producing heat and stores excess energy in molten sodium.
When electricity demand rises, that stored heat can be used to generate additional steam and increase turbine output. This allows the reactor to keep operating efficiently while still responding to changes in demand.
The technology was originally designed to work alongside intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar. For data centers, however, the same flexibility could help manage rapidly changing power demand.
By combining nuclear power’s high capacity factor with thermal energy storage, TerraPower aims to provide a more flexible source of electricity for large-scale AI infrastructure.
