Data centers over 100MW should build their own power plants. This is not unheard of in other industries. It's on-site so doesn't require infrastructure upgrades either.
And build them somewhere in the first place where there's good access to renewable energy so we don't end up solving this with gas or diesel generators.
There are also arguments from a disaster recovery perspective. You might be able to get away from the dirtier standby units if you have redundant prime capacity in something like a CCGT plant. Interconnection with the grid would only be needed for black start of the plant.
mini nuclear reactors would be ideal, assuming power demand can be formulated and accounted for ahead of time. On the surface of it, that should be more than possible.
I can tell you first hand that the regulatory strangulation the NRC has is far beyond any other agency.
You think aircraft have intense safety regulations and eye watering parts cost to meet it? Nuclear makes airplanes look like a dive bar of accountability. I really cannot overstate how insanely dense and paralyzing nuclear regs they are.
I live in the west and drive past dozens of old wells and mines regularly. These are "owned" by companies that went out of business after extracting profits, but it's unlikely that anyone other than the government will ever have the funding to clean them up. If they ever do get cleaned up. Ocasionally they contaminate vast watersheds.
How could folks like me be assured that a similar situation wouldn't happen to all the waste from that proliferation of nuclear technology, in which companies just "vanish" leaving a mess for the rest of us to clean up? Like, a giant rotting solar field isn't a beautiful thing, but at least I am not worried about the cells breaking down and contaminating my water source...
Spent nuclear fuel at least has some value unlike an old mine or field of trash or petroleum waste. So in some ways cleanup and management of waste is already economically incentivized.
the difference is the utility function these things have.
If these companies go out of business, there is a market for these things, someone will snatch them up for what would be comparatively cheap. Its not waste or an exhausted natural resource.
Alternatively, you could simply have companies pay a small tax that directly funds disposable in the event of a shut down.
