US nuclear energy company Oklo and Vertiv have announced a partnership to jointly develop solutions for the power and thermal management of hyperscale and colocation data centers. The technology being developed will run on electricity from Oklo’s small nuclear power plants.
The collaboration focuses on designing modular and energy-efficient systems tailored to the specific requirements of large-scale data centers. The parties intend to test the technology at Oklo’s Aurora nuclear power plant, which is still under development.
The rapid growth of AI and high-performance computing is leading to a sharp increase in energy consumption in data centers, particularly in the United States. Oklo and Vertiv want to respond to this development with an integrated approach that coordinates both power generation and cooling. By using residual heat from Oklo’s on-site power plant to power Vertiv’s cooling systems, the companies hope to reduce the energy consumption of data centers.
Nuclear power plant with standard components
Both parties are developing reference designs that will enable data centers to adapt their infrastructure to nuclear fission-based power supply. Oklo states that the nuclear power plant design consists largely of standard components and can therefore be deployed relatively quickly and flexibly. According to the company, the combination of power and cooling development at an early stage enables a more efficient end product. Vertiv emphasizes that the growing interest in nuclear energy within the data center sector is mainly due to the increasing power density and cooling requirements of modern computing environments.
Oklo is positioning itself not only as a supplier but also as an operator of its power plants. By building power plants directly adjacent to or within reach of data centers, integration with the customer’s infrastructure should become easier. According to the company, this also offers scope for customization.
The collaboration is positioned as a step toward new energy and cooling strategies for fast-growing digital sectors. The first applications will not be available for several years, as Oklo’s first commercial plant is not yet operational.
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