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...}

[Anonymous Coward]

"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.

[Anonymous Coward]

@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.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

[Anonymous Coward]

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

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.