Data center operators cautiously support nuclear

The value, role and safety of nuclear power has strongly divided opinion, both in favor of and against, since the 1950s. This debate has now, in 2022, reached a critical point again as energy security and prices cause increasing concern globally (particularly in geographies such as Europe) and as the climate crisis requires energy producers to shift toward either non- or low-carbon sources — including nuclear.

At the beginning of 2022, Uptime Institute Intelligence forecast that data center operators, in their search for low-carbon, firm (non-intermittent) power sources, would increasingly favor — and even lobby for — nuclear power. The Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2022 shows that data center operators / owners in major data center economies around the world are cautiously in favor of nuclear power. There are, however, significant regional differences (see Figure 1).