Meta is buying 2.8 gigawatts of nuclear power to keep its AI data centers running

Meta has locked in rights to as much as 2.8 gigawatts of future nuclear power under an agreement with nuclear developer TerraPower, one of the largest single commitments in a wave of deals tying artificial-intelligence data centers to next-generation reactors. The arrangement centers on Natrium, a reactor design still years from producing its first electron in the United States.

The Natrium agreement’s terms

TerraPower and Meta announced the deal on January 9, 2026, covering up to eight Natrium reactor and energy-storage plants. The initial phase funds early development of two Natrium units capable of delivering 690 megawatts of firm power, with Meta holding rights to energy from six additional units that could bring the total to roughly 2.1 more gigawatts. Combined, the companies put the ceiling at 2.8 GW of baseload generation, or up to 4 GW when the reactors’ built-in molten-salt storage system is used to boost output for several hours at a time. TerraPower says initial units could begin delivering power as early as 2032, and it has called the deal its largest advanced-nuclear commitment to date.

Why data centers are chasing small reactors

Each Natrium unit is designed to produce 345 megawatts of baseload electricity, far below the roughly 1,000 MW output of a conventional large reactor. That smaller footprint is the appeal for data center operators, who can fit several units on a site without the years of planning a full-scale plant requires. Brad Tietz, Midwest director of government affairs at the Data Center Coalition, told Inside Climate News that the compact size leaves room for a data center to keep expanding around its power source. Patrick White of the Clean Air Task Force added that the draw is reliability as much as size: reactors run continuously regardless of weather, unlike wind or solar, while producing none of the carbon emissions tied to the gas turbines many data centers still lean on. TerraPower, the developer behind the Meta agreement, describes the deal as its largest advanced-nuclear commitment to date, with initial units targeted for delivery as early as 2032.

A technology still waiting to prove itself commercially

No small modular reactor has been fully deployed commercially anywhere in the United States as of August 2026, even though the think tank Third Way counts 22 SMR designs in development nationally, according to an Inside Climate News analysis of the industry. Only two designs, both from NuScale Power, have cleared Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for U.S. deployment. TerraPower says its own Natrium project has finished its design, lined up a supply chain and cleared key regulatory milestones, with construction on its first commercial-scale plant underway and targeted for completion in 2030 — two years before Meta’s earliest promised delivery date.

Skeptics question the economics

Not every nuclear specialist is convinced the industry can deliver on its promises. Adam Stein of the Breakthrough Institute noted that NuScale has operated for 15 years without landing a firm customer, and Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the company’s recent partnership announcements “just talk,” pointing to a 2023 NuScale project with Utah municipal utilities that collapsed after costs climbed too high. Cost comparisons back up some of that skepticism: Ontario’s Darlington project, building four GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors, pencils out to roughly $140 per megawatt-hour for the first unit and about $80 for the rest, according to figures cited by Norwegian University of Science and Technology professor Jonas Kristiansen Nøland. Both figures sit above the $40-to-$86 range Lazard estimates for wind and solar. Lyman also argued that placing reactors directly next to data centers, the model TerraPower and most SMR developers favor, raises the stakes of any radiological release and that regulators have not yet validated the newer designs as sufficiently safe to fast-track.

The alternative data centers are trying to avoid

The nuclear push comes as off-grid gas turbines draw growing pushback. Elon Musk’s xAI has run 27 unpermitted gas turbines at data centers in Mississippi and Tennessee, prompting a lawsuit from a coalition of environmental groups that alleges violations of the Clean Air Act. Texas Governor Greg Abbott paused new data center approvals in early August 2026 over strained energy and water supplies, a move NuScale CEO John Hopkins cited on an earnings call as validation for reactor-based alternatives, though he offered no specifics on new customer agreements. States including New Jersey are also acting: Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation in July aimed at expanding advanced nuclear capacity, including SMRs, to meet rising demand tied partly to data centers.

What still has to happen before power flows

Jon Gordon of Advanced Energy United cautioned that SMRs are unlikely to affect near-term grid capacity in the PJM Interconnection region, where data centers are already a major driver of rising electricity demand, simply because so few reactors are operating anywhere yet. Victor Ibarra Jr. of the Clean Air Task Force said the bigger constraint may be manufacturing capacity across the nuclear supply chain rather than reactor design itself. TerraPower and Meta have not yet named a specific site for their first dual-reactor unit, saying only that identification is targeted for “the coming months.” Until a site is chosen, permits are filed and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission signs off, the 2.8 GW Meta has secured on paper remains a claim on future electrons rather than power actually reaching a server rack.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by an editor.

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