On June 18, 2024, the US Congress passed the misnamed “Advance Act” that will provide electric power to data-centers.
The Advance Act aims to expedite the development of next generation nuclear reactors and pays to support aging ones. It directs the Department of Energy to reduce regulatory cost for advanced reactors and provides deployment incentives.
Joe Biden signed the Advance Act into law on July 9, 2024. All this while so-called modern societies have not yet cleaned up the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. And the so-called “spent” highly radioactive nuclear fuel is still piling up at the power plants. With one exception, Onkalo in Finland, no permanent deposits for nuclear waste have been built anywhere - even though the waste needs to remain safe for 100,000 years.
The reason so many of us have not even heard about the Advance Act is that only two Senators voted against it: Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey (88 to 2). And in the House the vote was 393 to 13. There was one principled voice - and it belongs to Rashida Tlaib from Michigan. She said: “I voted present in rejection of this ridiculous decision to tie the re-authorization of vital firefighting programs for our communities together with poison pills that undermine nuclear safety …”
This program contains four clips: On August 18, 2024 the Financial Times published an article entitled: AI Power Demand Could Stifle Industry’s Growth -
On July 28, 2024, CNBC published a film on YouTube under the title: How The Massive Power Draw Of Generative AI Is Overtaxing Our Grid. And even if we generate enough power, our ageing grid is increasingly unable to handle transmitting the power to where it’s needed.
And a little stronger in the wording: the Synapse channel on YouTube ran a mini-documentary entitled: The Answer to AI’s Insane power needs and … published on May 8, 2024.
And in closing: On June 21, 2024, The Washington Post published an article entitled: AI is exhausting the power grid. Tech firms are seeking a miracle solution.
Come back for more programming on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Power when TUC Radio returns.
DATE: June and July/2024
CREDIT: Thanks to the Financial Times, CNBC, the Synapse, and the Washington Post for the clips from their articles and documentary films.
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