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DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

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Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#21

Post by epistasis »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #17
pseudalopex wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft committed to purchase the plant's capacity for 20 years. And US electricity demand grew very slowly from 2005 to 2020. It is growing rapidly now.

At around $110/MWh, according to the article. This is about 50% higher than what utility-scale PV or wind would cost. Guess they're using OpenAI accounting.

The electricity cost is actually very low compared to the capital cost of the stuff the the electricity runs. But not having access to the electricity means that all that capital is going to waste.

So Microsoft is less price sensitive than other electricity customers.

Plus they get the PR and hype boost from saying they are using nuclear, which is huge right now. Which is big enough that the other hyperscalers thought they had to announce new nuclear projects, even though it will be a decade before those new nuclear projects could ever come on line.

Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#22

Post by rzerowan »

CivBase wrote: post #3

How much would it cost to build a new reactor with comparable power output?

Beat for beat it would probably be cheaper to get the Chinese to do it.Cost per watt charts [1] show US builds still high while they are decreasing for the rest.

Apart from the obvious labour costs difference , theres also the skills at scale.Chinese have been on a continous buildout of new plants , so at this point they have designs/skilled teams for whom this is another routine at this point(i think 30+ under construction concurrently).The US builds are almost artisinal at this point.

And yeah at $1B , given prior examples , it expect them to be late and costs to baloon.Unless they use this as a template to upskill/retrain a workforce that will lead a new buildout so economies of scale take over and put downward pressure on the costs.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/22/climate/china...

Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#23

Post by stinkbeetle »

senectus1 wrote: post #20

they will be dependent on their allies for fuel sources.. in a list of countries with uranium resverves 1-59 they're number 55! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_uranium_r...

Number 55 when sorted alphabetically, if you're talking about the USA.

Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#24

Post by epistasis »

ip26 wrote: post #18
dreamcompiler wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At around $110/MWh, according to the article. This is about 50% higher than what utility-scale PV or wind would cost. Guess they're using OpenAI accounting.

I imagine data centers make the best economic sense when they can run full tilt 24/7. You’ll double your payoff time if you can only run work when the sun shines.

In most parts of the country, solar plus batteries to get through 24 hours will be cheaper than $110/MWh.

Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#25

Post by abtinf »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #17
pseudalopex wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft committed to purchase the plant's capacity for 20 years. And US electricity demand grew very slowly from 2005 to 2020. It is growing rapidly now.

At around $110/MWh, according to the article. This is about 50% higher than what utility-scale PV or wind would cost. Guess they're using OpenAI accounting.

Running a data center on unreliable energy would be shockingly stupid.

And unreliable energy sources routinely exclude the wildly uneconomical costs and environmental impact it would take to make them reliable.

Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#27

Post by lucaslazarus »

senectus1 wrote: post #20

they will be dependent on their allies for fuel sources.. in a list of countries with uranium resverves 1-59 they're number 55! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_uranium_r...

The U.S. is ranked #17 in that list at 101,900 tonnes, not #55.

Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#28

Post by UltraSane »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #17
pseudalopex wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft committed to purchase the plant's capacity for 20 years. And US electricity demand grew very slowly from 2005 to 2020. It is growing rapidly now.

At around $110/MWh, according to the article. This is about 50% higher than what utility-scale PV or wind would cost. Guess they're using OpenAI accounting.

Nuclear power is reliable 24/7 while wind and solar are not and handling this costs money. Microsoft has said that they have more GPUs than electricity to run them so even at $110/MWh it makes sense for them.

Re: DOE gives Microsoft partner $1B loan to restart Three Mile Island reactor

#29

Post by UltraSane »

senectus1 wrote: post #20

they will be dependent on their allies for fuel sources.. in a list of countries with uranium resverves 1-59 they're number 55! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_uranium_r...

Do you have any idea how little Uranium reactors use?

And in any case Australia host a LOT of uranium and is a very close ally and is happy to sell it to the US.

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