AI’s Energy Black Hole: Nuclear’s Fiery Return

Artificial intelligence is consuming power faster than grids can evolve.
In this episode of Tomorrow Unveiled: Green Code Hot Core, we explore how AI’s explosive energy demand is reshaping utilities, accelerating a nuclear renaissance, and exposing deep regulatory friction.

In this episode:

ERCOT and MISO’s 200 GW data-center surge

The $80 B U.S.–Japan nuclear alliance

SMR and microreactor cost controversies

Fuel bottlenecks: TRISO & HALU dependence

Smart-grid fixes like Dynamic Line Rating

The political friction threatening progress

🌐 Full story: https://tomorrowunveiled.com/ai-drive...

The real AI crisis isn’t intelligence—it’s infrastructure.

#NuclearEnergy #AI #DataCenters #EnergyTransition #CleanEnergy

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Intro: The Energy Collision Course
00:01:07 - The Three Interconnected Pressures
00:02:08 - Data Centers and AI: Swallowing Grid Capacity
00:03:17 - The Fiery Return of Nuclear Power
00:03:48 - Bureaucratic Hurdles: Sabotaging Progress?
00:04:17 - Explosive Demand: The Digital Infrastructure Tsunami
00:05:58 - Critical Bottleneck: System Instability
00:07:25 - Government Intervention and States' Rights
00:09:17 - Cost Allocation: Who Pays for the Upgrades?
00:10:42 - Utility Shopping: Data Centers on the Move
00:11:46 - Nuclear Renaissance: An $80 Billion Investment
00:12:59 - Nuclear: A National Security and Economic Strategy
00:13:36 - Reviving Dead Projects: VC Summer Units 2 and 3
00:14:52 - Cost Overruns: The First-of-a-Kind Penalty
00:15:47 - Replication Efficiency: Learning by Doing
00:16:51 - Small Modular Reactors: Cost and Design Debate
00:18:02 - Microreactors: Wasteful, Counterproductive, and Dangerous?
00:20:13 - Astronomical Costs: Project Pele Prototype
00:21:15 - Fuel Supply Vulnerabilities: SMR Designs
00:22:30 - Advanced Fuel Forms: TRISO and HALU
00:24:03 - Decentralized Green Code: Rooftop Solar and Batteries
00:24:39 - South Australia: A Rooftop Solar Success Story
00:25:34 - The Critical Role of Energy Storage: Battery
00:26:23 - California: Solar Plus Storage is Expected Norm
00:27:00 - US Rooftop Solar Market: Crippling Factors
00:27:26 - Incredibly High Soft Costs in the US
00:28:44 - Political Volatility and Uncertainties
00:29:33 - Smart Grid Solutions: Dynamic Line Rating
00:31:21 - Transmission Organizations: Congestion Solutions
00:32:36 - Western US: Market Integration - NV Energy and CAISO
00:34:11 - The Biggest Bottleneck: Regulatory Friction
00:34:49 - Simple Sabotage Field Manual: A Shocking Analogy
00:35:54 - How Sabotage Plays Out: Institutionalizing Stalling
00:37:19 - Approval Timelines: 10 to 17 Years!
00:38:13 - Lack of Permanence - Political Uncertainty
00:39:52 - Independence of FRC: Concerns and Impact
00:42:04 - New England: The Tightrope Walk
00:43:35 - Everett LNG Terminal: Massachusetts Dilemma
00:45:07 - Outro: Synthesizing the Key Findings
00:45:29 - The Need for Electricity is Skyrocketing
00:46:49 - Green Code versus Hot Core: Political Bottlenecks
00:48:20 - Can we Transition the Grid Cleanly?
00:49:11 - Thank You and Goodbye