Michael Brand L&S Social Sciences
Community Engagement, Data Centers, and Nuclear Power
Behind the internet there are large systems of physical infrastructures, with increasingly large environmental costs. As global digital infrastructure industries expand, the energy required to support an ever-growing cloud continues to attract public and scholarly attention. As some new hyperscale data centers are demanding over a gigawatt of power, much of the data center industry believes that nuclear power is the only sustainable solution. At major industry conferences, executives are excited about new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) — which they believe will offer a safer, more affordable, more resilient power source than all other alternatives. Politicians, technology developers, and activists have all begun to pay attention to SMRs’ potential to power the rapidly expanding data center industry and artificial intelligence. But these developments are relatively undocumented in academia, especially in their relationship to community engagement. My research examines how data center designers can effectively consult with local communities when deploying SMRs, especially in terms of nuclear power plant placement and nuclear waste disposal.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you so much for supporting my research this summer. As a SURF Fellow, I had the opportunity to travel to Sweden to investigate how communities were shaping nuclear power developments for data centers. My experience this summer was the most informative of my life, and has changed my perspective on how to create positive environmental change. Following my research this summer, I was invited to give a guest lecture at John Hopkins University. I looked forward to continuing to inspire the next generation of sustainable digital infrastructure designers.