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Released August 26, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the race to create and power more and more data centers, Google Incorporated (Mountain View, California) has announced a partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (Knoxville, Tennessee) and Kairos Power (Alameda, California) to build and operate a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.
Kairos Power's Hermes 2, a molten salt-cooled reactor, is expected to deliver up to 50 megawatts (MW) of power to the TVA grid in 2030. Through a power purchase agreement (PPA), it will furnish electricity to Google data centers in Tennessee and Alabama.
TVA says they are the first U.S. utility to agree to a PPA for electricity from a Generation IV reactor. In October of 2024 Google announced that it had signed a corporate deal with Kairos to buy energy from multiple SMRs to be developed by the company. Ultimately the agreement is expected to provide 500 MW of power by 2035.
Google calls the molten salt system "passively safe," saying it "allows the reactor to operate at low pressure, enabling a simpler, more affordable nuclear reactor system."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued construction permits for both the original Hermes, a demonstration reactor (December 2023) and Hermes 2, which will produce actual power (November 2024). Safety-related construction began on the Hermes demonstrator in July of 2024.
The NRC's approval for Hermes is a milestone. It is the first non-water-cooled reactor to receive construction approval in more than 50 years.
Will This Work? SMRs, like nuclear fusion, are getting a lot of press and billions of investment dollars, but neither has yet provided one electron of grid power. Recently, IIR News compared the SMR rush to the conventional nuclear revival of early this century--one that basically failed.
And in May of 2024 the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) compiled data from four SMRs currently operating or under construction, and added costs projections from U.S.-based SMR developers. They came away with a strongly negative view of the practicality of this option.
"Small modular reactors still look to be too expensive, too slow to build, and too risky to play a significant role in transitioning from fossil fuels in the coming 10-15 years," said the report summary. And, "Experience with operating and proposed SMRs shows that the reactors will continue to cost far more and take much longer to build than promised by proponents."
IIR News has recently reported that Google has an agreement with Virginia's Dominion Energy (Richmond) and provider Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Devens, Massachusetts) to offtake fusion power beginning in the early 2030s.
Other Grid Supplement Options Over the last several years Google has partnered with a variety of types of alternative power providers for off-grid energy, in the U.S. and internationally. In some regions where they are connected to the grid, the data giant has demand-response programs with such utilities as TVA and Indiana Michigan Power to scale back power usage during periods of high demand, reducing the need for new power plants and transmission lines.
Solar power is also among the Google options. In May of 2024 they reached an agreement with energyRe (New York, New York) to purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) from among 600 MW of new solar and storage projects in South Carolina.
Hydroelectric comes in with Google spending $3 billion in a deal with Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners, which will include 20-year PPAs for 670 MW of power from two Pennsylvania hydroelectric plants. Subscribers can read more information on the Holtwood and Safe Harbor hydro power stations.
Dialing for Dollars The competition for power supply investment intensifies as almost every option beyond coal or natural gas seems years away from being economic and grid-scalable to grid levels. But the need is great, and sometimes lost in the data center shuffle is the concern by consumers that this expansion may leave them with more costly and less reliable power.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.
Kairos Power's Hermes 2, a molten salt-cooled reactor, is expected to deliver up to 50 megawatts (MW) of power to the TVA grid in 2030. Through a power purchase agreement (PPA), it will furnish electricity to Google data centers in Tennessee and Alabama.
TVA says they are the first U.S. utility to agree to a PPA for electricity from a Generation IV reactor. In October of 2024 Google announced that it had signed a corporate deal with Kairos to buy energy from multiple SMRs to be developed by the company. Ultimately the agreement is expected to provide 500 MW of power by 2035.
Google calls the molten salt system "passively safe," saying it "allows the reactor to operate at low pressure, enabling a simpler, more affordable nuclear reactor system."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued construction permits for both the original Hermes, a demonstration reactor (December 2023) and Hermes 2, which will produce actual power (November 2024). Safety-related construction began on the Hermes demonstrator in July of 2024.
The NRC's approval for Hermes is a milestone. It is the first non-water-cooled reactor to receive construction approval in more than 50 years.
Will This Work? SMRs, like nuclear fusion, are getting a lot of press and billions of investment dollars, but neither has yet provided one electron of grid power. Recently, IIR News compared the SMR rush to the conventional nuclear revival of early this century--one that basically failed.
And in May of 2024 the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) compiled data from four SMRs currently operating or under construction, and added costs projections from U.S.-based SMR developers. They came away with a strongly negative view of the practicality of this option.
"Small modular reactors still look to be too expensive, too slow to build, and too risky to play a significant role in transitioning from fossil fuels in the coming 10-15 years," said the report summary. And, "Experience with operating and proposed SMRs shows that the reactors will continue to cost far more and take much longer to build than promised by proponents."
IIR News has recently reported that Google has an agreement with Virginia's Dominion Energy (Richmond) and provider Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Devens, Massachusetts) to offtake fusion power beginning in the early 2030s.
Other Grid Supplement Options Over the last several years Google has partnered with a variety of types of alternative power providers for off-grid energy, in the U.S. and internationally. In some regions where they are connected to the grid, the data giant has demand-response programs with such utilities as TVA and Indiana Michigan Power to scale back power usage during periods of high demand, reducing the need for new power plants and transmission lines.
Solar power is also among the Google options. In May of 2024 they reached an agreement with energyRe (New York, New York) to purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) from among 600 MW of new solar and storage projects in South Carolina.
Hydroelectric comes in with Google spending $3 billion in a deal with Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners, which will include 20-year PPAs for 670 MW of power from two Pennsylvania hydroelectric plants. Subscribers can read more information on the Holtwood and Safe Harbor hydro power stations.
Dialing for Dollars The competition for power supply investment intensifies as almost every option beyond coal or natural gas seems years away from being economic and grid-scalable to grid levels. But the need is great, and sometimes lost in the data center shuffle is the concern by consumers that this expansion may leave them with more costly and less reliable power.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
