As the global digital economy surges, hyperscale data centers and AI-driven workloads are placing unprecedented strain on electricity grids. The 2025 Reuters Events SMR & Advanced Reactor conference opened with a pivotal panel bringing together leaders from the nuclear energy, infrastructure, and technology sectors. The discussion focused on how advanced nuclear solutions—most notably Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)—could play a critical role in stabilizing and meeting the rapidly escalating energy demands of the digital era.
The panel, titled “Nuclear Power and Big Tech: Meeting the Surging Demand from Hyperscalers and Data Centers”, brought together key voices from Siemens Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Energy Northwest, AECON, Oracle, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to explore an unprecedented collaboration between the traditionally conservative nuclear sector and the fast-moving tech industry.
Data center loads have surged dramatically with the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and hyperscale computing. “The AI boom has changed our grid profile,” said Saladyga. “What used to be a consistent, predictable base load is now subject to large, unpredictable spikes. Turbines and reactors weren’t built to adapt at that speed.” He added that the co-location of data centers and nuclear reactors introduces unique regulatory and technical complexities that require collaboration across sectors.
TVA, which holds an early site permit for SMRs at its Clinch River location, sees modular reactors as critical to meet future load demands sustainably. Cullen emphasized the flexibility of SMRs for incremental capacity addition:
“We can scale, improve, and reduce costs faster with SMRs while embedding safety by design.”
Johnson outlined lessons from AECON’s work with Ontario Power Generation at the Darlington site, where fleet deployment strategies from Canada’s reactor refurbishment programs have cut costs by up to 30% from initial to subsequent units. “Continuous improvement through replication and team scaling works,” Johnson said. “We cannot afford to repeat the past of one-off plant designs.”
Voorberg acknowledged the vast challenge of aligning the fast-paced expectations of hyperscale tech with the long timelines of nuclear development.
“Our industry cannot spin up factories overnight. We’re spending $500 million to expand transformer production in Charlotte, but it takes years to bring that online. Honest discussions and real commitments are critical to success.”
Cullen and Hunnewell emphasized the need for deep communication between tech firms and utilities. “We are designing assets for 80 to 100 years, while data centers want power in six months,” Hunnewell noted. “We must bridge that gap by building infrastructure between the generator and the customer that can stabilize these load swings.”
The panelists agreed that SMRs offer a compelling option for stable, dispatchable low-carbon power but warned against returning to the past practice of building every plant as a prototype. “Standardization is key,” said Cullen. “We must maximize the benefits of next-gen designs and avoid fragmentation.”
Voorberg concluded with a reminder of the shared urgency:
“This is not about picking winners and losers. We need all forms of generation. SMRs can offer stable baseload power to complement renewables and support the digital economy’s relentless growth.”
