Texas-based HGP Intelligent Energy has come up with a rather unusual and ambitious proposal to meet the ever-increasing energy needs of artificial intelligence data centers. In a formal proposal submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the company requested the reuse of retired U.S. Navy nuclear reactors. This project, presented under President Donald Trump’s Genesis Mission, is vital for an AI data center project to be built at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
A cheap energy solution for tech giants: Military nuclear reactors
According to reports shared by Bloomberg, the company aims to provide between 450 and 520 megawatts of uninterrupted power using two former military reactors, although it has not yet been officially confirmed which ships these reactors will be removed from. Currently, the U.S. Navy actively uses Westinghouse A4W reactors on Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and General Electric S8G reactors on Los Angeles-class attack submarines. While the USS Nimitz, commissioned in 1975, is on its final mission before retirement, approximately one-third of the Los Angeles-class submarines have already been decommissioned.
According to the World Nuclear Association, the U.S. Navy has been operating more than 100 nuclear reactors for over 50 years without any radiological accidents, clearly demonstrating the reliability of the technology. If the requested loan guarantee is approved, it will be the first instance in history of a military reactor being repurposed for civilian use, ushering in a new era in the energy sector.
This move is expected to cost between $1 million and $4 million per megawatt. While this figure may seem high at first glance, it represents a significantly lower cost than the small modular reactors proposed by tech giants like Amazon, Meta, Oracle, Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia, or building an entirely new nuclear power plant from scratch. Furthermore, this method contributes to recycling by giving reactors that would normally be decommissioned at the DOE’s Hanford Site a second life.
The company plans to request a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy for the project, which is expected to cost between $1.8 and $2.1 billion in total. Once the facility is operational, a revenue-sharing program will be implemented with the government, and a decommissioning fund will be established. Given the incredibly high cost of disposing of nuclear materials, the existence of this fund is crucial for the project’s sustainability. HGP CEO Gregory Forero states that they know how to do this safely and scalably, and that they have investors who share their vision.
With the rise of artificial intelligence technologies and increasing energy crises, companies are being pushed towards creative, previously untried methods. What are your thoughts on the idea of using reactors from retired warships and submarines to power civilian data centers? Do you think integrating such military technologies into civilian life is a safe and logical solution? Don’t forget to share your opinions in the comments.
