Google’s power-hungry data centers crave nuclear energy

Google has signed a 20-year deal with Constellation, a leading US nuclear power plant operator, to update six nuclear power plant sites across the US. The agreement aims to guarantee revenue for efficiency upgrades at existing nuclear plants, representing over $4.3 billion of new investment by Constellation. The upgrades are expected to add 890 megawatts of power over the next five years, according to The Verge.

In a separate development, Finnish authorities have halted building work at two planned Google data centers due to concerns over environmental impact. The sites are part of Google's €13bn investment in Finland, its largest single investment in Europe. The Finnish Supervisory Agency ordered the work to be suspended by October 23, citing the removal of trees and topsoil, construction of site roads, and changes to ditches carried out without a mandatory environmental impact assessment.

Google has acknowledged that it "fell short of our own high standards" and will follow the agency's guidance. The company behind Google's data center projects, Tuike Finland, has been asked to provide an explanation and outline its plans for proceeding by October 14. If the company fails to comply, the agency may begin enforcement proceedings.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Verge, BBC Technology — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.