The Department of Energy has picked four nuclear complex sites to be used for deployment of new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
DOE announced the Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Kentucky and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina will host the AI data centers, according to a Thursday press release.
The agency will look to invite private sector partners to work to build AI data centers and energy generation projects. Additional details on project scopes, eligibility requirements and submission guidelines will be made available with site-specific releases, DOE said.
Solicitations for the developers are expected to be released in the coming months and partners could be selected by the end of the year, according to the press release. DOE is also analyzing more sites that could issue solicitations down the line.
The site selection follws an April request for information about potential data centers on DOE land.
The request for information garnered a lot of interest as DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s deputy assistant secretary Michael Goff told a recent nuclear-related panel Wednesday that it received over 300 responses.
The Thursday announcement supports President Donald Trump’s goals of using federal lands to lower energy costs and assist in powering the global AI race, DOE said. The announcement also comes a day after the Trump administration signed three AI-related executive orders.
DOE said the push for AI centers on federal lands took after the executive orders, Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security and Unleashing American Energy.
“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 the press release.
