Meta's nuclear AI data center plan thwarted by 'bees'
Meta's plan to build a nuclear-powered AI data center has been scrapped after it was discovered that a rare species of bee was living on the proposed site.
Meta's plan for nuclear-powered AI data center thwarted by rare bees
Meta's nuclear datacenter plan reportedly stung by bees • The Register
According to the Financial Times, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees at a company-wide meeting held around the end of October 2024 that 'the discovery of a rare species of bee on the proposed construction site was one of the reasons for the cancellation of the data center plan.'
Zuckerberg had planned to strike a deal with a nuclear power plant operator to provide emission-free electricity for new data centers powering Meta's AI technology, but the deal faces complex environmental and regulatory challenges, two people familiar with the matter said.
The location of the proposed data center and the specific species of rare bee are unknown at the time of writing.
Although insect populations are declining worldwide due to deforestation , global warming , pesticides , and artificial light pollution , bees in particular are essential as pollinators for plant reproduction and agriculture.
A 2024 study revealed that the effects of declining pollinators are also extending to familiar crops such as coffee and apples.
About 60% of the world's food crops, including coffee and apples, are suffering from a lack of pollinating insects - GIGAZINE
To protect bees, which support the ecosystem, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a clean energy research organization, launched the Power-in Pollinators Initiative in 2018, an effort to encourage coexistence with pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
Meanwhile, it is estimated that a single AI query consumes up to 10 times more energy than a Google search, and major AI companies are turning to nuclear power as a way to meet surging electricity demand while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
According to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Financial Times, Zuckerberg said at the company-wide meeting that if Meta had secured a deal with a nuclear power plant operator, it would have been the first major tech company to use nuclear power for AI and would have become the world's largest owner of a nuclear plant powering its data centers.
One of them also said that Zuckerberg is frustrated by the difficulty of setting up nuclear power plants in the United States, while China is open to nuclear power.
The Financial Times pointed out that 'China appears to be building nuclear reactors at a rapid pace, but the United States has only opened a handful of them in the past 20 years.'
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