Advancing Nuclear Power in the Global Data Centre Industry
A new partnership between Deep Fission and Endeavour Energy is designed to revolutionise power delivery for data centres through deep borehole nuclear technology.
The strategic collaboration is expected to target electricity costs of 5-7 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and commit to developing 2 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear energy to power Endeavour’s global portfolio of edged data centres.
Initial reactors are planned for deployment in 2029. Such a development comes at a critical time for the data centre industry, which faces mounting pressure to balance escalating power requirements with environmental commitments.
The momentum of nuclear power
Deep Fission's approach differs markedly from traditional small modular reactor (SMR) designs by placing units approximately one mile underground. It leverages natural geological features for containment and pressure management.
As a result, the company has secured over 40 patents for its technology, reflecting significant investment in research and development across safety, efficiency, and deployment methodologies. These power density advantages are particularly relevant for the data centre sector, with each installation capable of delivering more than 100 megawatts (MW) within a quarter-acre footprint.
This could prove especially valuable in land-constrained markets where data centre demand continues to surge, particularly in established tech hubs where space comes at a premium.
“While nuclear power's momentum is clear, cost remains the primary barrier,” says Elizabeth Muller, Co-Founder and CEO of Deep Fission. “This partnership represents a step-change in power provision for data centres globally.”
Currently, there are escalating power needs within the data centre industry largely due to growing AI workloads. The partnership's 2GW commitment reflects the scale of this demand, which represents enough capacity to power approximately 15-20 hyperscale facilities.
In fact, industry analysts suggest this capacity could support up to 200 million GPU-hours annually, showing the scale of compute power that next-generation facilities will require.
By utilising natural geological features for containment, the design of both companies simplifies safety systems, whilst also accelerating deployment timeframes compared to surface-based installations. This approach also significantly reduces the surface footprint required for safety exclusion zones, a crucial consideration for data centre site selection.
Confronting power constraints
The partnership also stands to address growing concerns about data centre power availability in key markets.
With many regions facing grid capacity constraints, the ability to co-locate significant power generation capacity with data centre facilities could provide a competitive advantage in market expansion strategies.
Jakob Carnemark, Founder of Endeavour, explains: “Supporting AI's unprecedented power demands while meeting environmental goals requires innovative solutions that remain commercially viable.
“Deep Fission's approach fundamentally changes the economics of nuclear projects through reduced construction timelines and enhanced safety, while delivering clean, reliable energy at an unprecedented power density.”
Needing to consider the environment has also played a critical role in the development of such a partnership. The zero-carbon profile of nuclear power aligns with increasing pressure on data centre operators to reduce their carbon footprint and could provide an advantage that would improve the reliability of critical infrastructure.
Traditional nuclear projects often face decade-plus development cycles, making this compressed timeline particularly noteworthy for an industry accustomed to rapid scaling. Already, technology giants that are investing in data centres like Google and Amazon are already starting to invest in nuclear power as an alternative solution to meeting the growing power demands of data centres.
Jakob adds: “We believe this transformative approach will reshape how the industry thinks about power provision.”
Explore the latest edition of Data Centre Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, Tech & AI LIVE and Data Centre LIVE.
Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today.
Data Centre Magazine is a BizClik brand
