Bees prevent Meta from building data centre for AI at nuclear power plants

Meta had an ambitious plan to build an artificial intelligence data centre in the United States that would be powered by nuclear energy.

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However, according to the Financial Times, these plans had to be cancelled due to an unexpected discovery - rare species of bees were found on the land reserved for the project.

Mark Zuckerberg had already agreed with the operator of the nuclear power plant to supply energy without carbon emissions, but the discovery of rare bees on the site complicated the implementation of the plans. Zuckerberg informed his employees that the project is currently not possible due to numerous regulatory issues that have arisen due to the protection of rare insects.

The publication does not specify whether Meta is looking for a new construction site that is not home to rare bees. One of the publication's sources said that the company continues to study various proposals for emission-free energy, including nuclear, to power its future data centres dedicated to artificial intelligence.

Competitors, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon, are actively investing in nuclear power for their data centres. Google has entered into a partnership with Kairos Power to build seven small nuclear reactors in the US to power its data centres starting in 2030. Meanwhile, Amazon in mid-October announced three agreements with various companies to build small modular reactors.

Source: Financial Times