atom

The future of artificial intelligence is not in the cloud, it is in the nucleus of the atom

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On the outskirts of Palo, a farming town in eastern Iowa, you can still see the gray towers of Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant. They have been silent for years, but those who live nearby remember the constant hum that accompanied their childhood. For nearly half a century, that boiling water reactor was part of the landscape and power supply of the Midwest. Everything changed in August 2020, when a right —a wall of storms with hurricane-force winds—ravaged corn crops and damaged cooling towers. Duane Arnold went out and no one thought it would come back on. The plant, already aging and with a license about to expire, was permanently shut down. It seemed like the end. Five years later, that atomic silence will be broken again, driven not by the State or the traditional nuclear industry, but by a technology company: Google. “It’s alive, it’s alive.” Victor Frankenstein shouted in the 1931 film. Nine decades later, that cry echoes symbolically in Iowa: the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant will come back to life. The resurrection will come from Google and NextEra Energywhich will invest more than 1.6 billion dollars to return the pulse to the plant in 2029. According to ReutersGoogle will buy most of the energy generated for 25 years to power its artificial intelligence data centers, while NextEra will assume 100% control of the plant after acquiring the shares of its local partners. A restructuring never seen before. Reactivating a nuclear plant is not as simple as pressing a button again. In the case of Duane Arnold, Google and NextEra Energy plan to redo all critical infrastructure, modernize security systems and pass inspection by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) before receiving a new license. The project is unprecedented: to demonstrate that a closed plant can be revived under current safety standards. “Reopening an existing plant is faster and cheaper than building a new one from scratch,” explain analysts cited by the Financial Times. If all goes well, Duane Arnold will be producing energy again in 2029, along with Palisades and Three Mile Islandthe other two pieces of the American atomic renaissance. It is not the first, nor will it be the last. Big technology companies are betting on reopening nuclear plants. On the one hand, Microsoft signed a similar agreement with Constellation Energy to reopen the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, which is expected to resume operations in 2028. On the other hand, Amazon is working with Dominion Energy to develop SMR reactors (Small Modular Reactors) in Virginia. Google itself I had already taken steps in that direction: Last year it announced a partnership with Kairos Power to build seven SMR reactors by 2030, with a total capacity of 500 megawatts. These modular reactors are smaller, more efficient and safer, and are presented as the future of civil nuclear energy. Additionally, SMRs can be installed near data centers, reducing electrical transportation losses and costs. The AI ​​energy fever. The trend is unmistakable: Big Tech they are betting on the atom to fuel the era of artificial intelligence. Each new generation of models—from ChatGPT to Gemini to Claude—demands thousands of megawatts of additional power. And the growth is just beginning. In this context, OpenAI – the creator of ChatGPT – has asked the US government for a national plan to drastically expand the country’s electrical capacity. As CNBC reportedthe company asked the White House to commit to building 100 gigawatts of new energy capacity each year, warning that China added 429 gigawatts in 2024 alonecompared to 51 in the United States. In its statement it concludes with a phrase that will become an energy motto of the sector: “Electrons are the new oil.” Risks and doubts. Despite the enthusiasm, the Google project is not without controversy. Physicist Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists warned in the Financial Times that Duane Arnold has “the same design as the reactors that melted down at Fukushima in 2011” and that it suffered “significant damage, including its cooling towers, during the right “Until a realistic estimate of the cost of reconstruction and safety guarantees is known, we will not know if it can generate affordable electricity,” Lyman said. Likewise, Wall Street Journal collect the criticism from environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, which question the age of the reactor, the degradation of its components after years of inactivity and the management of radioactive waste. However, even among skeptics there is consensus on one point: AI’s energy appetite leaves no alternative to exploring all possible options. lhe electrons of the future. What is happening in Iowa is not a simple industrial reopening: it is a declaration of intent of the new technological capitalism. Google, symbol of the cloud and virtuality, turns to the most tangible and ancient atom to sustain its digital future. The paradox sums up the moment: artificial intelligence needs real matter, megawatts and electrons. The Duane Arnold plant, which once marked the rise and fall of the American nuclear dream, could be reborn as the energy heart of AI. And if OpenAI’s predictions come true, it won’t be the last. In the new global economy, electricity will be the oil of the 21st century. And in Iowa, Google just lit the spark again. Image | Unsplash Xataka | The amount of nuclear energy generated by each country, detailed in this interactive map

The first processor without a single silicon atom is ready. It is a prototype and still its benefits are a dream

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Integrated circuits of 2 nm They will disembark in the market in style for 2025. Users know that nanometers have lost a good part of their usefulness, and that, in reality, They represent a category of semiconductors. In fact, they no longer faithfully reflect the length of logical doors or other physical parameter, such as the distance between transistors. However, the very quick development of the chips reminds us that every step we take place a little closer of the physical limit of silicon technologyalthough, in reality, this challenge is not new. The main manufacturers of integrated circuits and numerous research groups linked to some of the most important universities on the planet have been working on a solution to this challenge. Decades, even. There are currently several open research lines, and possibly the solution will require betting on one of them, but it is even more likely that the way to follow invites us to allow several of the proposals to be working on. The first 2D computer in the world is here A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) has published in Nature An interesting article in which he explains the procedure that has followed to manufacture the first functional CMOS processor using two -dimensional materials (2D) of a single thick atom. The really revolutionary thing is that they have used molybdenum disulfide and tungsten dyslelenex with the purpose of producing more than 2,000 transistors capable of executing logical operations. They have not used a single silicon atom. “We have first demonstrated a CMOS processor built completely with 2D materials” However, it is also important that we do not overlook that the materials they have used, which, as I have mentioned, have only one thick atom, maintain their properties at that scaleunlike silicon. The leader of this project, Professor Saptarshi Das, has pointed out that “silicon has promoted notable advances in electronics for decades by allowing continuous miniaturization of field effect transistors (FET or Field-Effect Transistors) “. “However, as silicon devices miniaturize their performance begins to degrade. 2D materials, however, maintain exceptional electronic properties at the atomic level, placing a promising path before us,” Explain das. “We have demonstrated for the first time a CMOS processor built completely with 2D materials combining molybdenum disulfide transistors and tungsten tungsten dysleeniuro cultivated in large areas.” All this sounds very good, but there is no doubt that for users the most relevant is to know what impact this technology will have in our experience if it becomes popular. “Our 2D CMOS processor operates with low power voltages, Minimum energy consumption and can execute simple logical operations at frequencies up to 25 kHz “, He has specified Ghoshone of those responsible for the project. This is the heart of the matter. We are only at the dawn of the technology known beyond silicon, but presumably the chips with molybdenum disulfide transistors and tungsten dislendiuro will allow the manufacture of much faster and more compact computers than the current ones, as well as perceptibly more efficient from an energy point of view. More information | Nature In Xataka | Intel and TSMC lead the revolution of photonic chips. His problem is that China has just done fully in this war

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