Microsoft Bought a Nuke Plant. You Should Be Worried. | MOAI Studio
Back to Blog
Surf the Singularity #003<br>Updated June 2026
Microsoft Bought a Nuke Plant. You Should Be Worried.
Two years ago Microsoft restarted Three Mile Island to feed its AI. In 2026 that's no longer a stunt — it's the template. Big Tech is building a parallel power grid, and your electricity bill is paying for the seam.
> Microsoft restarted Three Mile Island — 835 MW, online ~2027, backed by a $1B federal loan (NRC restart inspections underway as of Jan 2026)
> not for the polar bears. for 24/7 AI base-load.
> and it wasn't a one-off — it was the starting gun
> ~10 GW of nuclear now committed to data centers across 13 deals — more nuclear capital than any decade in US history
> Google → Kairos SMRs (500 MW). Amazon → $20B+ at Susquehanna + X-energy. Meta → 5.2 GW RFP. Oracle → 3 reactors, 1+ GW.
> Dec 2025: FERC ruled AI campuses can wire STRAIGHT into reactors — skipping the grid queue entirely
> the intelligence grid is physically unbundling from the public one
> your side of the meter: power went 13¢ → 19¢ /kWh since 2019, +11.5% in 2025 alone
> utilities asked for $31B in rate hikes in 2025 (2× 2024); another $9.4B in Q1 2026; ~half still pending
> live near a data center? bills up as much as 267% (Bloomberg). PJM alone: +$13.8B onto consumers.
> 4 million utility shut-offs in 2025. $25B in unpaid power bills.
> the data center eats first. you get the leftovers — and the invoice.
> the honest counter: aging grids, gas, and clean-energy mandates share the blame — one study (IER) finds the data-center→price link statistically weak. fair. but the direct-connect deals and the rate filings aren't in dispute.
> no backup power in 2026 = not serious. pick your side of the divide.
Appendix · Further Signal
$1B federal loan for the Three Mile Island restart — NucNet
Crane / TMI restart & FERC capacity waiver — Utility Dive
Every nuclear-powered data center deal (tracker) — SMR Intel
Big Tech embraces nuclear to fuel AI — IEEE Spectrum
Data centers straining the grid — who pays? — Spotlight PA
How much have data centers raised electricity prices? — PolitiFact
The counter-argument: link is statistically weak — IER
Discussion — Hacker News
The Verdict
The 2024 Three Mile Island deal read like a one-off. In 2026 it's a pattern: ~10 GW of private nuclear committed, a federal regulator clearing AI to plug straight into reactors, and consumer power bills climbing while it happens. Reasonable people argue over how much of the bill is data centers versus an aging grid — but the two grids are visibly separating, and only one side gets to bypass the queue. Pick your side of the power divide.
Newsletter<br>Subscribe to Surf the Singularity
High-signal dispatches from the end of the world as we know it.
Subscribe