Meta Signs Deals With Three Nuclear Companies for Over 6 GW of Power

Meta has announced three new agreements to supply its data centers with nuclear energy, partnering with a startup, a mid-sized energy provider, and a major U.S. nuclear operator. The deals underscore the growing role of nuclear power in supporting the company’s expanding AI infrastructure.

Meta's power needs in the future will be met by two different types of small modular reactor (SMR) development companies Oklo and TerraPower. Both SMR developers will develop multiple new nuclear reactors for Meta, while Vistra will also supply electricity from its existing fleet of nuclear plants. The aggregated agreements will provide in excess of 6 gigawatts of total electrical generation capacity over the next decade.

Nuclear energy has become increasingly tempting for technology companies due to the ever-increasing demand for "always-on" computing and therefore has been viewed as a stable, non-dispatchable constant source of power for data centers. In addition, many companies perceive that renewable sources of energy cannot meet their consistent energy demands. Established nuclear operators and many new entrants in the SMR space, including startup companies, continue to benefit from this trend, although they are benefiting in different ways.

Power from existing nuclear power plants remains the least expensive method to supply the majority of baseload demand, so the limited output from existing nuclear plants is forcing many companies, including Meta, to consider SMR developers for new projects. Startups such as Oklo and TerraPower are betting that producing large numbers of smaller reactors will lower costs through mass manufacturing an approach that remains largely unproven. Meta’s commitments could give them the opportunity to demonstrate whether that model works at scale.

The agreements stem from a request for proposals Meta issued in December 2024, seeking partners capable of adding between 1 and 4 gigawatts of generation by the early 2030s. Much of the new capacity will feed into the PJM interconnection, which spans 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and has seen a rapid influx of data centers.

The most immediate impact will come from Meta’s 20-year agreement with Vistra. Under the deal, Meta will purchase 2.1 gigawatts of power from Vistra’s Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants in Ohio. Vistra will also expand capacity at those facilities, as well as at its Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania.The addition of 433 megawatts of generation will significantly increase the total amount of power available to Meta Technologies via the upgrades to its PPA with nWind.

In addition, Meta is acquiring 1.2 gigawatts of capacity from Oklo, which anticipates starting to provide electricity to Meta by the end of 2030. Oklo, which became public through a SPAC merger in 2023 and has already signed a major contract with Switch, a data center operator, is currently facing issues obtaining regulatory authorization for its reactor design. Should everything go according to plan, Oklo will construct its Aurora Powerhouse reactors in Pike County, Ohio, with 75 megawatts produced per reactor and the company will need more than a dozen reactors in total to fulfill all of Meta's needs.

TerraPower's reactor design, co-founded by Bill Gates, is designed to generate electricity by the year 2032, and its design utilizes liquid sodium as the primary heat transfer medium (as opposed to water) and stores excess energy in insulated tanks independent of demand levels. Each reactor can generate 345 megawatts, while the storage system can supply an additional 100 to 500 megawatts for more than five hours. TerraPower is already working with GE Hitachi to construct its first plant in Wyoming. For Meta, the company’s initial two reactors would provide 690 megawatts, with an option to purchase six more units bringing total capacity to 2.8 gigawatts of nuclear power and 1.2 gigawatts of energy storage.

Meta did not disclose the financial terms of the agreements.

Power from Vistra’s existing reactors is expected to be the least expensive, as operating nuclear plants generally offer some of the lowest electricity costs on the grid. In comparison, the financial feasibility of Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) are in flux. According to TerraPower's projections, long-term selling prices for SMR's should average $50-60 per megawatt hour, while Oklo's estimate ranges from $80-$130 per megawatt hour. However, the dollar per megawatt hour (framework) for the future cost projections presented here are applicable to the next generation of SMR systems and initial costs will likely be higher than the long-term projected costs.