Google, Kairos and TVA to collaborate in nuclear energy deal

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has entered into a deal to purchase nuclear power from Kairos Power to facilitate energy at Google data centers in Alabama and Tennessee, the utility announced Monday.

In a three-way collaboration between TVA, Kairos and Google, the Alameda, Calif.-based advanced nuclear company’s Hermes 2 plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. will deliver up to 50 megawatts of electricity by 2030 in a purchase power agreement with TVA, according to its Monday press release.

The value of the agreement was not listed in the press release.

Through the companies’ deal, Google will power from the advanced nuclear plant through TVA’s grid to further decarbonize its data centers in Montgomery County, Tennessee and Jackson County, Alabama.

The Hermes 2 plant will have two low-power test reactors that support the development of Kairos’s fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (KP-FHR) and will use TRi-structural ISOtropic particle fuel (TRISO). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a construction permit for the plant in November 2024.

Additionally, the Hermes 2 plant is the first deployment under Kairos’s deal with Google to provide 500 megawatts of electricity to be provided to the global tech company by 2035.

According to the press release, this was the first time a U.S. utility has purchased electricity from an advanced reactor.

The agreement comes a month after President Donald Trump’s administration issued executive orders to bolster artificial intelligence and construct more data centers and months after the four nuclear energy-related executive orders.