Can the birth of the first 100% nuclear-powered Bitcoin mine in the United States be sustainable?

summary:

Recently, the first nuclear-powered data center in the United States that hosts Bitcoin mining services was officially completed. This event has brought nuclear mining back into people's attention. In fact, for a long time in the past, nuclear mining has been put into use by some Eastern European countries because of its high efficiency and cleanliness and the easy satisfaction of high energy requirements for mining. For some countries with relatively surplus energy, nuclear energy can be converted into economic value, which is undoubtedly quite cost-effective. However, due to the difficult-to-control nature of nuclear energy itself, the feasibility of nuclear mining has always been a focus of debate among experts from various countries. Whether it can bear the burden of a sustainable development path still needs more practical results to prove.

Preface

It has always been known that Bitcoin mining requires a lot of electricity. With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, whether Bitcoin mining can use clean energy nuclear energy has become a hot topic. In this regard, some countries have actually put it into use, while others are still hesitating and waiting. The discussion on whether it is feasible or not has become a hot topic for experts from all parties. Next, I will take you to learn more about the practice and discussion of nuclear mining.

Nuclear Mining Practice

Recently, Cumulus Data, a zero-carbon data center manufacturer, announced the completion of a data center connected to the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. Cumulus Susquehanna Data Center Campus is the first nuclear-powered data center in the United States to host Bitcoin mining services. It plans to start serving Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf this year. Next, let's briefly introduce the main background of these companies.

1. Cumulus Data

Cumulus Data is a subsidiary of independent power producer Talen Energy. Talen is mainly guided by a long-term ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) strategy, centered on decarbonization, renewable energy, battery storage and digital infrastructure, so that Talen can reduce the negative impact on the environment and society while developing its business. Therefore, promoting clean energy infrastructure and directly connecting to hyperscale data centers with low-cost, carbon-free electricity is the inevitable direction of Talen's development, and what Cumulus Data has to do is to follow this direction, integrate digital infrastructure and clean energy, and allow hyperscale data centers to directly connect to zero-carbon, low-cost, and reliable power sources.

2. Susquehanna and Cumulus Susquehanna data center campus

The Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant is also a subsidiary of Talen Energy. Talen is building a large-scale data center park, Cumulus Susquehanna data center campus, nearby to provide low-cost, reliable, low-carbon electricity to data center customers in the park, allowing customers to directly benefit from the low-carbon energy provided in the park. The park will be powered by more than 1 GW of ultra-reliable, zero-carbon, 24x7 (7 days 24 hours) uninterrupted nuclear power, with industry-leading TCO and one of the lowest total electricity costs in the United States.

TeraWulf

As the world's first ESG-focused cryptocurrency mining company, TeraWulf's goal is to perfect the use of green energy for Bitcoin mining. And considering the issue of sustainable development, TeraWulf uses more than 91% zero-carbon energy to produce Bitcoin in its mining facilities across the United States.

From the above, we can see that as the first data center used for Bitcoin mining, it carries the energy considerations of nuclear energy itself. At present, its practical ideas and company capabilities are quite impressive. The results of the overall development still need to wait for subsequent developments.

On March 6, TeraWulf issued a press release stating that it had established the first underground Bitcoin mining facility in the United States powered by 100% nuclear power on a large scale, purchasing reliable, carbon-free and 24x7 baseload electricity directly from the 2.5 GW Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. Currently, the company has nearly 8,000 mining machines online with a computing power of approximately 1.0 EH/s. TeraWulf benefits from Nautilus' fixed electricity costs, with electricity costs of only $0.02 per kilowatt-hour over five years. The company's goal is to reach a computing power of 5.5 EH/s (50,000 mining machines, 160 MW) in the second quarter of 2023.

Early nuclear mining

As for the use of nuclear energy for mining, some Eastern European countries have actually put it into use a long time ago. Due to the large number of nuclear power plants left over from the Soviet era in Eastern Europe, coupled with the underdeveloped domestic industrial economy, serious oversupply of electricity, and serious losses of state-owned nuclear power plants, only the development of Bitcoin mining can make use of waste electricity and bring income growth to the local area. For the country, it is also something they are happy to see if they can make excess energy shine in other fields.

In September 2017, the governor of Russia's Leningrad region invited cryptocurrency miners to Sosnobyb near St. Petersburg to build an industrial-scale mine at the old Leningrad nuclear power plant. Subsequently, the Russian Ministry of Finance drafted relevant laws to legalize cryptocurrencies. In December of the same year, the President of Belarus stated that the government will protect and promote the development of the country's cryptocurrency industry and will use the country's excess nuclear energy to power new mines. In 2019, the President of Belarus reiterated at a meeting with representatives of the IT industry that the country will develop digital currency mining with the strength of the whole country, allowing the mining industry to set up factories in the country and use excess nuclear energy to power the mines.

In addition, on May 6, 2020, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy pointed out in a statement that Bitcoin and digital currency mining is a modern way to effectively utilize excess energy. Due to the blockade of the new crown epidemic, local nuclear power plants have generated a large amount of surplus electricity resources. After that, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy asked the state-owned enterprise Energoatom to study potential methods of using nuclear power generation facilities for Bitcoin mining. Subsequently, Eneroatom announced plans in 2021 to build a number of giant data centers near the country's nuclear power plants for mining Bitcoin and storing sensitive national information.

Is nuclear mining feasible?

1. Feasible reasons

1. Nuclear energy is a highly efficient and clean energy source with little environmental impact and extremely small carbon emissions, making it suitable for mining.

2. The greenhouse gas emissions of nuclear power are only one percent of those of coal-fired power of the same scale, and the emissions of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and smoke are also very small.

3. The cost of nuclear power is high, but the operating costs are very low. For major nuclear power countries such as the United States and France, the cost of nuclear power is already lower than that of thermal power.

4. Once nuclear power is put into use, it only needs to be inspected once every few years. Most of the time, it can provide a large amount of stable power output, which is conducive to the smooth operation of mining machines.

5. The high energy requirements of cryptocurrency mining can be easily met by the high density characteristics of nuclear energy. The energy generated by a single fusion/fission reaction far exceeds the sum of millions of combustion reactions.

6. It has little correlation with the external environment. Nuclear power generation is not affected by seasons or geographical locations. It can also provide power to remote areas and does not affect electricity consumption in industrial areas.

7. Miners and nuclear power plants can benefit in both directions. Nuclear energy can bring long-term feasibility, and with the steady decline in nuclear energy prices, miners can save extra money. At the same time, mining work is flexible and controllable, and excess electricity capacity is used for mining, which can also bring considerable additional benefits to nuclear power plants.

2. Non-feasible reasons

1. Nuclear power plants are important national equipment and have extremely high safety requirements. Using nuclear energy for large-scale mining is likely to cause a backlash from public opinion.

2. Compared with thermal power plants, it is more difficult to adjust the power of nuclear power plants. After reaching full power, nuclear power plants need to frequently adjust the control rods to adjust the power, which not only affects the service life of the unit, but also brings many safety hazards.

3. The uranium 235 burned in nuclear power plants is scarce and the nuclear waste is difficult to handle.

4. Once an accident occurs, it will cause great safety hazards. The relevant industrial chains are all state-owned enterprises and military industries. In addition, the economy is developing rapidly and electricity consumption in industry itself is still very scarce. The possibility of using nuclear energy for mining is almost zero.

Summarize

In general, nuclear energy has many advantages when used for crypto mining, especially for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin that require a lot of electricity. Although nuclear energy brings some potential risks, compared with the capabilities of nuclear energy, its risks may be put on the back burner. At present, the Bitcoin mining industry has developed into a global industry, and using excess energy to create greater benefits for the country may also become a future trend. As for whether the use of nuclear energy for mining can become a sustainable development path, more practical results are needed to prove it. At present, the use of nuclear energy for mining has not been put into use on a large scale and is in the early stages of development, and further observation and research are needed.