The explosive growth of artificial intelligence is driving data center developers to consider nuclear power as a solution to their massive energy needs, according to a leading real estate attorney.
“Our firm is involved with nuclear power to power up a data center. And that’s only going to get more pronounced as we see the demands of computing power, specifically with AI,” says William Ticknor, Partner at Thompson Hine LLP.
The Power Crisis
According to Ticknor, traditional power infrastructure may soon hit its limits: “The power demands have to be enormous. So at some point there’s going to be scarcity of resources in terms of how many of these things can be built.”
This crisis is particularly acute as companies like Tesla build increasingly powerful computing clusters for AI development, Ticknor notes. The energy requirements for these facilities far exceed typical commercial power usage.
Office Conversion Challenges
While many have suggested converting vacant office buildings to data centers, Ticknor says the technical requirements make this impractical in most cases: “You can’t just take a high-rise tower. It doesn’t have the requirements the data centers need, like power, cooling being probably the two biggest.”
Industry Response
Thompson Hine is taking a leading role in addressing these challenges, with Ticknor noting the firm will host a conference specifically focused on data center development this October.
The focus will be on “how you handle the intense power requirements at any data center that’s either a conversion or ground up,” Ticknor says, with nuclear power emerging as a serious consideration for meeting these unprecedented energy needs.
