A company with plans to construct small, nuclear reactors 1 mile underground for data centers and other electricity-hungry industries plans to put its first reactors in Kansas, Texas and Utah.
Deep Fission, a Berkeley, California company, announced its plans saying its technology will be able to meet the “explosive demand for power from artificial intelligence” and signed letters of intent with undisclosed partners in each of those states. It is the second firm, the other being TerraPower,to announce an interest in creating nuclear energy in Kansas to power data centers and AI growth.
“The world is transforming before our eyes, and there is a race to secure the energy needed to fuel the robust growth in AI and data centers,” said Liz Muller, co-founder and CEO. “It’s inspiring to see the swift embrace of Deep Fission’s technology. We’re proud to partner with industry leaders as we seek to deliver safe, cost-effective, and rapidly deployable power that meets today’s demand while building a more resilient future.”
She is an energy and environment entrepreneur and founded the company with her father, Rich Muller, a physics professor emeritus at the University of California.
Deep Fission plans to create what it describes as “scalable onsite power” by drilling a 1-mile deep and 30-inch wide hole. The process would create what it called a Deep Fission Borehole Reactor 1. Such a pressurized water reactor produces 15MWt (thermal) and 5MWe (electric) and has an estimated fuel cycle of 10 to 20 years.
The company contends that a 30-inch borehole, a mile deep, would provide pressurization and containment and at the same time would lead to increased security but lower costs. The pioneering method would also allow the reactor to be placed up to one mile deep, a process that would have require thick-walled pressurization vessels.
The Topeka Capitol Journal reported that in a recent filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said its model is “uniquely suited to meet the explosive demand for power from artificial intelligence (“AI”) workloads, energy-intense manufacturing, and energy-constrained regions.”
The Capitol Journal also revealed the company’s advisory board includes two Nobel laureates in physics, one whom is former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who served during the Obama administration. A former executive of Kairos Power, is also a vice president.
The publication Data Center Dynamics, reported Deep Fission had signed letters of intent with data centers, co-developers, industrial parks, and strategic partners, totaling 12.5GW of potential capacity in Kansas, Texas and Utah.