One of the world’s richest people said recently that support for nuclear power investments is high in both of America’s major political parties.
Appearing on the “Face the Nation” program on Sunday CBS News, Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, talked about how and why there’s so much support for nuclear power. Margaret Brennan, the host of the show, had asked Gates about his thoughts regarding a new Wyoming power plan that’s being built.
Gates responded by saying he hopes that America ends up building plenty of new nuclear power plants, and that the country should have a goal of building 100 new ones.
During his comments, he spoke about the potential of a nuclear power plant meltdown when he said:
“A problem when you shut a reactor down is it still has heat. That’s why Chernobyl was a problem and Fukushima. [With] our design, that goes away because since we use this sodium to cool everything, it can absorb all that heat.
“So, those accidents were both first in generation, second in generation reactors. The third generation reactors dealt with that with a lot of complexity. So, those reactors are quite safe, but the cost overruns meant that the electricity will be very, very expensive. We solved the safety problem with a much simpler approach, but we have to start from scratch.”
Gates added that he’s “quite confident” that there will be support to continue building a huge arsenal of power plants in America, regardless of which candidate ends up winning the presidential election in November.
He said that he’s met with “a lot” of politicians from both sides of the aisle, and that “support for nuclear power is very impressive in both parties.”
While the reason why Republicans support nuclear power might be different from why Democrats support it, the fact is that both parties support it.
Republicans, he said, emphasize how nuclear power addresses energy security issues, and Democrats — who also value those things — also look to nuclear power as a clean energy source.
Gates added:
“You really don’t want the nuclear reactors around the world made by your adversaries because it’s economically a huge job creator and because the materials involved in these reactors possibly could be diverted. You want your eye on making sure that it’s not feeding into some military-related activity.
“And so the U.S. leadership in this space has a lot of strategic benefits.”
For the last few years, Microsoft has been investing in next-generation nuclear reactors as a way to power its AI ambitions and data centers.
As Microsoft — and other major tech companies — continue to pour resources into advanced technologies like AI, they are requiring more and more electricity consumption. And if they’re not able to find an alternative, they’ll be contributing to global warming as they look to grow their business.
One major advantage of nuclear energy is that it doesn’t create any greenhouse gas emissions, which is the major cause of global warming.
