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The
sites are “uniquely positioned for rapid data center
construction, including in-place energy infrastructure with the
ability to fast-track permitting for new energy generation such
as nuclear,” the agency said in a statement Thursday.
The move follows an executive order signed in January by
outgoing President Joe Biden that sought to remove hurdles for
AI data center expansion in the U.S. while also encouraging
those data centers, which require large amounts of electricity,
to be powered with renewable energy.
While President Donald Trump has since sought to erase most of
Biden's signature AI policies, he made clear after returning to
the White House that he had no interest in rescinding Biden's
data center order.
“I’d like to see federal lands opened up for data centers,"
Trump said in January. "I think they’re going to be very
important.”
The lands identified as potential sites include a number of
national laboratories, such as the New Mexico-centered Los
Alamos and Sandia laboratories and Oak Ridge in Tennessee.
While the tech industry has long relied on data centers to run
online services, from email and social media to financial
transactions, new AI technology behind popular chatbots and
generative AI tools requires even more powerful computation to
build and operate.
A report released by the Department of Energy late last year
estimated that the electricity needed for data centers in the
U.S. tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or
triple again by 2028 when it could consume up to 12% of the
nation’s electricity.
The United States, under both presidents, has been speeding up
efforts to license and build a new generation of nuclear
reactors to supply carbon-free electricity.
While Biden's executive order focused on powering AI
infrastructure with clean energy sources such as “geothermal,
solar, wind, and nuclear,” Thursday's statement from Trump's
energy department focused only on nuclear. But in a lengthy
request for information sought from data center and energy
developers, the agency outlines a variety of electricity sources
available at each site, from solar arrays to gas turbines.
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