Savannah River Site is one of four federal sites tapped to take part in the Trump administration’s plan to speed the creation of artificial intelligence networks.
The U.S. Department of Energy site that manages nuclear materials for storage and reuse hopes to attract private-sector partners to construct data centers, a network component crucial to AI.
“By leveraging DOE land assets for the deployment of AI and energy infrastructure, we are taking a bold step to accelerate the next Manhattan Project − ensuring U.S. AI and energy leadership,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in prepared remarks. “These sites are uniquely positioned to host data centers as well as power generation to bolster grid reliability, strengthen our national security and reduce energy costs.”
Milestone: Savannah River Site reaches key construction goal in ongoing cleanup of radioactive materials
Like nuclear facilities, data centers consume massive amounts of energy requiring cool environments. Those environments often are created by flowing water through pipes and exchangers to dissipate the high heat generated by a large number of computer servers.
The current presence of high-transmission power lines and water-cooling facilities at some federal facilities rendered them ideal to pursue the goals outlined in President Trump’s Executive Orders on Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security, and Unleashing American Energy.
The other three selected DOE sites are the Idaho National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Reservation n Tennessee and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Some Savannah River Site facilities will pivot to support AI plans