Weird headline or what?

The Three Mile Island meltdown - which occuured in March of 1979, amazingly nearly 50 years ago now - was the worst commercial nuclear disaster in the US. And probably the third worst ever, worldwide, after Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011). In its aftermath, Unit 2 was permanently shuttered, its remnants carted away. Unit 1 survived until a few years ago, when it was closed down for financial (rather than safety) reasons. (The plant operated safely for decades post the Unit 1 meltdown.) 

But Unit 1 is slated to be reactivated, coming online in 2028 to provide power to Microsoft, which needs the juice to run its data centers - the ones that are gobbling up a tremendous - and tremendously increasing - amount of energy thanks to AI.

Microsoft will use this energy to support power grids in the mid-Atlantic states around Washington DC, a region considered an internet crossroads.

This area faces severe strain from data centers' massive energy consumption, raising concerns about grid stability as AI demands increase.

Tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are rapidly expanding their data center capabilities to meet the AI revolution's computing and electricity needs. (Source: Raw Story)

I wouldn't want to live across the street from a nuclear facility, but I'm not opposed to nuclear energy. Even with the safety oncerns around nuclear, it doesn't produce carbon dioxiide or other greenhose gas emissions. Nor does its use result in air pollutants. Unlike fossil fuels. Most consider nuclear both cleaner and safer than the non-renewable energy sources: coal, oil, natural gas. So Microsoft (and other big energy consuming tech companies like Amazon and Google) want in on it. 

Bobby Hollis, Microsoft's vice president of energy, called the agreement "a major milestone in Microsoft's efforts to help decarbonize the grid in support of our commitment to become carbon negative."

If sun, wind, and water wheel aren't going to bring us enough sustainale energy, then bring on nuclear.

I'm more concerned with how much energy our reliance on tech demands. AI algos and models are insatiable. And, let's face it, a lot of what we use AI for is not exactly essential. No one needs a refrigerator that orders OJ when they're running low. No one needs AI-based searh to tell them what year The China Syndrome was released, when waiting a nano-second longer for regular search results will do you just fine. (Weirdly, coincidentally, The China Syndrome, a fictional account of a nuclear plant meltdown, was released in March 1979, twelve days before the Three Mile Island incident.)

Tech energy is, of course, invisible to us. Who thinks of how much energy our gaming, our searching, our shopping is using? Most of us our aware to some degree that our cars use energy. That our lights use energy. That our heat and AC aren't free. We pay the bills. We know we consume energy. But most of us give little or no thought to how much energy the tech giants are sucking up. Because we don't get the bill. Not directly, anyway. Sure, our smart appliances no doubt use more energy, but we sure aren't thinking about the AI memes the algos are churning out that we're retweeting.

Something to think about when we see the Microsofts of the world figuring out that they can resurrect a moribund nuclear facililty to keep them in business. 

Meanwhile, if they are going to use the reopened Three Mile Island, I hope that Constellation Energy, the facility's owner, comes up with a name change. (Maybe Microsoft AI can find a good one.)

Oh, and the weird headline or what? 

U.S. nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft

What a world!