Discussion
US gov is giving $1bn for Microsoft to restart a nuclear power plant at a former nuclear power plant disaster site, because AI. https://gizmodo.com/us-approves-1b-loan-to-restart-three-mile-island-as-microsoft-data-centers-drive-demand-2000688138
@GossiTheDog @alice great news, also disaster is a strong word to use for something that caused zero deaths and zero environmental contamination.
Nuclear is cheap, emission free and safe. Once the AI bubble bursts this will benefit locals, who will have access to power at a discount.
@GossiTheDog
And this is why I’ve opposed arguments that nuclear power is safe and should be looked upon as our future clean energy solution.
Such arguments have focused on tech developments while ignoring the risks of greed, corruption, and incompetence.
@GossiTheDog Wikipedia has a long list of started but never finished nuclear power plants or extra blocks. The list is huge.
@GossiTheDog They should also pay people enough to move from the area since it's about to become irradiated. Unfortunately it's probably going to spread pretty far via the water too though.
What's worse than restarting a nuclear power station? Restarting it to power LLMs for Microsoft data centres.
@GossiTheDog Perhaps the is how the singularity begins... Random fissil radioactive particles randomly interacting with unintelligent zero's and one's until one day "bang".
What's that quote...ahh yes ... "Life finds a way"
@GossiTheDog so the jokes with, how many engineers, N-1 to restart the power plant? Ahead of their time
@GossiTheDog "US taxpayer to stump up $1bn without being asked " etc.
There, I fixed it for you.
@GossiTheDog
While I think it's a bad idea for MS to be in energy generation decisions, the misinformation in the replies here is amazing about what happened at Three Mile Island or how dangerous it is.
The unit that was running safely up until *2019* is the one being restarted. The 1979 failure that released 10 bananas worth of radiation into the atmosphere was in a completely separate unit that was subsequently shut down and won't be restarted.
So long as they update controls and processes.
@GossiTheDog let's hope the bubble won't blow with a bang
@GossiTheDog To be honest, by the time it takes them to restart this (we're talking about years if not decades) the AI-bubble will very likely have burst. It's just a message to investors that AI companies believe in the "future".
Also fossil fuel companies need nuclear power as a distraction from wind, solar and storage.
This....this is a joke, right?
THREE MILE ISLAND?!!!!!!!!
Oh, we are SOOOOOOOOOOO fcuked.
@GossiTheDog @briankrebs Is this how AI ends up killing us all? 🫣
@GossiTheDog I am old enough to remember Republicans shrieking "they're picking winners and losers!"
The only difference is that now Republicans are just handing a billion dollars to an already highly profitable company in a highly profitable industry instead of those losers trying to improve Americans lives by investing in solar.
Unfortunate shortsightednes 😞 .
It may well come back to bite them in ass, just for some short term profits.
@GossiTheDog Another reason to dislike Microsoft
@GossiTheDog I mean, I don't like AI as much as the next person on here, but you know what else releases radiation into the atmosphere at MUCH higher rates than nuclear power? Coal.
@GossiTheDog poor little Microsoft has $29B in cash reserves but needs public handouts.
@GossiTheDog a billion dollars won't be enough. It wasn't enough money to shut it down and clean it up 40 years ago, and I think it drove GPU Nuclear to the edge.
And then your energy bills go up to pay for it.
@GossiTheDog I know enough about Constellation from the duracho and the hurricane last year in Houston to confidently say that their incident response plan is nowhere near what I imagine would be needed for recommissioning of a nuclear facility of this nature.
@GossiTheDog Tomorrow they'll forgive the loan
@GossiTheDog one billion that a lot money 🤦🏻♂️
@GossiTheDog I worked the TMI-1 reactor there after I got out of the army in the early 2000s. It was a clusterfuck of mismanagement there and yes, I for the scrub brush from too much radiation. The only nuke where that happened to me.
@GossiTheDog
Irony died, went to Hell, and came back in order to shill for the Ai industry.
Nuclear power?
Why don't Microsoft just incinerate people to power their data centers?
#Ai #Microsoft #NuclearPower
@GossiTheDog FFS, of course it is.
@GossiTheDog be thankful they aren't using an LLM to run the reactor.
@GossiTheDog re last. NOOOOOO! that's just asking for a disaster, unless that accident can be averted with better safety checks this time. I've read about TMI and what happened scares the bejebbers out of me. What effects mighgt we still be having today because of the accident at Three Mile Island.
@GossiTheDog surly this will end well
@GossiTheDog
stupid fucking madness.
That nuclear disaster released less radiation than you get from a chest x-ray.
@GossiTheDog the AI projects are idiotic but quit scaremongering over nuclear. Doing the oil execs job for them.
@GossiTheDog Yep. Happening not far from here and I couldn't be happier.... Assuming we couple it with taxing the absolute hell out of exporting natural gas.
PA currently ranks like #2 in the country for nuclear power generation, but is also #2 in the country for natural gas production. I'd love to see the first number go up and the second one go very far down.
@GossiTheDog MS running a nuke plant? Will give a different meaning to "blue screen of death", won't it.
@GossiTheDog What could possibly go wrong!
@GossiTheDog > former nuclear power plant disaster site,
note that it's such a tiny "disaster" that it's barely known outside of the US or nuclear-disaster-aficionados.
@dascandy sorry, I meant partial nuclear meltdown
@GossiTheDog With a cleanup that lasted into the 90's of the last century, and an added exposure for those living near it of up to 35% of their normal yearly dose. While the rest of the plant was running until 2019.
Truly terrifying.
@GossiTheDog Because AI is the cover used by tech companies to move into the power generation space on the public dime.
@cR0w @GossiTheDog all these Texas data center power plant combos legit just mine crypto and swap over to selling electricity to the shit ass Texas grid depending on how high the power emergency drives pricing.
@Officeplant @GossiTheDog Texas is just the shady minor leagues monitored by the big tech orgs looking to push out public utilities.
@GossiTheDog a mutually beneficial partnership?
@GossiTheDog we are now speedrunning civilization.
It was "fun" while it lasted.
come over, warm up. coffee?
