Meta just saved an Illinois nuclear plant that was set to be mothballed

Meta has signed a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy to keep the lights on at an Illinois nuke plant that was facing an uncertain future once state subsidies dry up in 2027.  The deal, announced today by both Meta and Constellation, will keep the Clinton Clean Energy Center operating beyond the end of Illinois' zero- …

[GoneFission]

Can't wait for the future where most US public energy producers are firmly under the financial control of a tech corp so they can both lease the energy back to consumers at a premium surcharge and also prioritize data centers over local public & residential infrastructure during heavy grid load periods. Some of you may go without power for weeks on end, but that's a small price to pay for innovation!

[Wang Cores]

But imagine, tvs will be cheap!

[b0llchit]

And the electricity to power them is either not available to run your fancy new gadget or only available at rent pricing where you must deliver every electron back to the company orand fines will (always) be due (because you didn't deliver the right electrons back and that is a hefty fine).

[Michael Hoffmann]

Or, one TV that is mandatory, constantly switched on, set to a single channel, oh and of course, has video surveillance...

There is no volume control, especially not during ad breaks, which will triple in volume to be heard in every corner of your... was going to say "house", but probably just "slum dwelling".

[Evil Auditor]

Do not worry. According to those techno-fascists, their AI will solve all of our problems. That includes going without power for hours or weeks^[1].

_{[1] a solution might very well be to drug us to the point where we do not mind going without power for months...}

[blackcat]

"US public energy producers"

Are there any publicly owned energy producers left in the US? I know most are funded by the public purse but all the power stations and infrastructure is owned by private companies.

[codejunky]

@GoneFission

"Can't wait for the future where most US public energy producers are firmly under the financial control of a tech corp"

Such is the failure of government to maintain services and so private entities have to fill the void. I am in the UK watching our net zero zealots destroy our energy supply which again would probably result in private companies that can afford to having their own generation they can probably profit with supplying our failing supplies.

[blackcat]

Re: @GoneFission

In the UK there is no public generation. Even 'Great British Energy', or whatever the govt calls it, is just an investment fund to give money to private companies.

[codejunky]

Re: @GoneFission

@blackcat

"In the UK there is no public generation. Even 'Great British Energy', or whatever the govt calls it, is just an investment fund to give money to private companies."

While the generation may not be in public hands it is the gov that dictates the energy types which is why we havnt been building nuclear while pretending to care about worble gloaming and instead have a load of monuments to a sky god and expensive energy.

[andy gibson]

Re: @GoneFission

" it is the gov that dictates the energy types"

More like it is the gov that supports the energy type, based on the Labour donor.

Dale Vance - donates £5 million to Labour. Gets a solar farm approved.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

wholey shit, wait till your hear about thatcher and the tory wanker selling UK power to her crony mates for a song so they could rob us blind for 40years.

I'm sure you will be livid. and blame labour for allowing thatcher to do that.

what is it with right wing fuckwits and their fake anger?

[Evil Auditor]

Re: @GoneFission

While we're at it, would you like to add UK water to the discussion?

"what is it with right wing fuckwits and their fake anger?" - I'm afraid, the anger is not fake. You're not happy with your life and some massive ars-onist (who probably is at least partially responsible for you being unhappy - struggle to pay the bills, struggle with health care etc.) tells you that it's Labour's fault, EU's fault, immigrants' fault...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

Studies show that right leaning people are much happier with their lives than left leaning. We don't need months of therapy if someone uses the wrong pronouns when buying a coffee.

[Evil Auditor]

Re: @GoneFission

Studies? Which studies? Anyhow, I noticed that right-leaning people much less recognise the need for therapy. Even though it would benefit them and their environment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

It isn't exactly hard to miss as the left wing are very quick to start with the ad-homs, abuse and ultimately violence. They are a miserable bunch who are desperate for some meaning in their lives.

https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/why-conservatives-are-happier-liberals

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S009265661100170X

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6764755/

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

turns out you didn't read them.

liberals are unhappy due to inequality, and facist behaviour.

conservatives are just dumb fucks who love inequality and facism.

your wording makes it clear you are a nazi lover

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

I did read them.

The regressive left are unhappy as they believe there is all this stuff happening, climate, 'muh democracy', not being allowed to play dressup etc.. but the reality is that this is all manufactured grievance to keep them angry and anxious which makes them easier to control. All while the very same people angry at the system are aiding the very things they are angry at. For example supporting policies that actively move wealth up the chain, restrict their own freedoms and usher in authoritarian controls.

On the right we can actually see reality such as capitalism being the best way to get people out of poverty and that cheap available energy is one of the key factors to this and that treating people equally rather than equitably is the road to success.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

"supporting policies that actively move wealth up the chain, restrict their own freedoms and usher in authoritarian controls."

ho dear hate to break it to you, you just decribed the far right, i.e what you support, why are far right so stupid?

capitalism has done a very poor job of getting people out of poverty, as shown by the present upward concentration of wealth to the 1%

https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality

[codejunky]

Re: @GoneFission

@AC

"capitalism has done a very poor job of getting people out of poverty, as shown by the present upward concentration of wealth to the 1%

https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality"

Part one of your sentence is nor related to part two of your sentence but also capitalism and free markets may do a poor job of getting people out of poverty, but they are so far the most successful ways of getting people out of poverty. In fact reducing absolute global poverty by the largest amount ever seen in history. Inequality has nothing to do with poverty, we could all be equally poor which has been the norm before such free trade and capitalism.

[Wang Cores]

We can go forever in that direction. American conservatives are content to let kids get chopped up by a loony with an AK47 while liberals try to pass restrictions so much so they can't even lift a gun in their own defense.

How about the classics: Diogenes? Miserable bastard in search of an honest man in a land where it was custom to sexually abuse young boys.

Would rather be allied with the iconoclast, the radical to such societies, personally.

Not to worry. We've got no actual power while you've got the tech billionaires building your surveillance systems, the ineffectual managerial bobbleheads in office who bend to you even at their own risk, the armed forces who'll keep us in line and the frustrated young men to crusade in your stead. You'll drive us to ruin yet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh we all know that the gun restrictions the US political left enact are utterly useless. The supposed assault weapons ban does nothing of the such and very minor tweaks to the design gets guns around the restrictions. One such restriction was 'no pistol grip', so they make guns without a pistol grip. Not a single one of these restrictions, even ones passed in the bluest of the blue states, is worth the paper it was written on. It is all performative BS to temporarily appease the baying mob while leaving the actual problem unsolved so that it can be 'solved' again at a later date.

A bit like homelessness, crime or mental health.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

instead have a load of monuments to a sky god

Mammon?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @GoneFission

codejunky> watching our net zero zealots destroy our energy supply

As a hardcore Tuftonite, I would be most careful bandying around words like "zealot" in case I broke the glass house I inhabited.

[Don Jefe]

It’s surreal that plagiarism engines are responsible for the US finally revisiting nuclear energy. It may be the only genuinely positive outcome of AI.

[really_adf]

"a 30MW uprate that will boost the plant's total capacity to 1,121MW"

Only another 89MW to go...

[Aldnus]

Does Zucker plan to run power cables into all his datacenters specifically. or as everyone knows its pumped into the national grid!!!

[hoola]

One suspects that he wants all the cost savings (financial offsetting and still screwing government subsidies) of having "His" power station whilst at the same time all the benefits of the grid when it goes offline.

As long as the safety remain firmly with the appropriate authorities with out any Zuck interference it should be okay.

[Anonymous Coward]

up in smoke

Guess this means Greenpeace & chums will all be quitting their Facebook accounts then...

[Mike Friedman]

This plant was a mess from the day they started construction in 1977. I grew up 40 miles from this plant and it was 1000% over budget when it came on line in 1987.There was huge local opposition to building it, because of safety and because the owner wasn't large enough to absorb the immense cost overruns. It basically bankrupted that owner, Illinois Power Company.