Google said Wednesday it wants Washington’s help to “accelerate nuclear permitting” and “create a domestic nuclear fuel supply” to expand U.S. energy resources that will support power-thirsty artificial intelligence projects.
The Big Tech titan unveiled a new agenda for fueling its AI ambitions, authoring a series of policy proposals intended to update America’s energy system to power tech breakthroughs.
The steps required to energize AI development are within reach, according to Google’s Ruth Porat, Thomas Kurian, James Manyika and Kent Walker.
They authored a policy paper that recommended investment in energy technologies, including nuclear power, optimizing the grid, and developing the labor force to build new infrastructure.
“At Google, we are supporting innovation, development, and deployment of a range of energy resources and technologies, including through the world’s first corporate agreements to purchase advanced geothermal and advanced nuclear from small modular reactors (SMRs), among other technologies,” Google’s paper said.
“Looking ahead, ushering in an era of abundant growth requires accelerating investment in many sources of energy, including geothermal, advanced nuclear, and natural gas generation with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), as well as flexible energy resources like demand response (managing facility usage to reduce stress on the grid at peak times of day) and energy storage.”
Google urged policymakers to focus on workforce development because it said a “shortage of electricians may constrain America’s ability to build the infrastructure needed to support AI, advanced manufacturing, and a shift to clean energy.”
“By unlocking advanced electricity resources and grid infrastructure, the United States would enable all sources of electricity to contribute to a more reliable and affordable energy future,” Google said on its blog. “They now require constructive public and private collaboration to advance.”
