GoKawiil
Tech News
Nature reports that the nuclear power sector is increasingly turning to small modular reactors (SMRs) as a way to overcome the cost overruns and construction delays that have long plagued large-scale nuclear plants. These smaller, factory-built designs promise faster deployment and lower upfront capital costs than traditional gigawatt-scale reactors.
A new analysis of seven states housing roughly half of America's data centers finds that generating the electricity these facilities consume uses far more water than cooling their servers does. Across Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio and Arizona, data center power demand draws about 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater a year—about 12 times the combined annual water use of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Most of that electricity comes from water-dependent power plants, and two-thirds of them sit in regions already facing significant water stress or drought.