Elon Musk Goes Nuclear, Says Dangers 'Greatly Overstated' As Google Signs Nuclear Power Deal

Tech industry tycoon Elon Musk made comments in support of nuclear energy at an event over the weekend, adding to the current buzz surrounding the nuclear energy sector.

What Happened: Musk held a Town Hall event in support of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Friday where he spoke about the safety of modern nuclear reactors. 

Musk said that the dangers of nuclear power are "greatly overstated." 

"With the latest technologies, you can actually make a nuclear reactor where it is literally impossible to melt it down if you tried to melt it down," he said. 

Musk has been a strong advocate for nuclear power and has called the shutting down of nuclear power plants “total madness” and “extremely crazy." He has also argued in favor of reopening closed nuclear power plants and Constellation Energy Corp. CEG has plans to do just that. 

Three Mile Island: Constellation Energy announced on Sept. 20 that it plans to restart Unit 1 of the Three Mile Island nuclear facility. The reopening is part of a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft Corp. MSFT  which will use the electricity to power its AI data centers. 

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Google Chooses Nuclear: Tech giant Alphabet, Inc. GOOG has also chosen nuclear power for its AI data centers. Last week, Google signed a Master Plant Development Agreement with Kairos Power to deploy a fleet of advanced nuclear power projects totaling 500 MW by 2035. The Google agreement will likely build more excitement for nuclear power.

AI data centers and other AI infrastructure require enormous amounts of constant energy and the tech industry is showing strong interest in nuclear energy as a potential solution for clean, reliable power generation.

Fast Energy: Elon Musk previously predicted that solar energy will be the main long-term power source for civilization, but said nuclear power is necessary in the interim as it is “the fastest to produce energy.” It looks like Google and Microsoft agree with Musk. 

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