A cryptomining company is exploring the potential of deploying a micro nuclear reactor at its data center in New York.
Nano Nuclear Energy Inc. this week announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Blockfusion Ventures, an affiliate of cryptomine firm Blockfusion USA, Inc., to use nuclear energy to power its data centers.
Under the MoU, Nano Nuclear will explore the potential integration of its microreactor technologies with Blockfusion's data center in Niagara Falls, New York.
“The groundbreaking microreactor technology Nano Nuclear is developing has the potential to revolutionize the way data centers are powered, ensuring a sustainable future while meeting the very large and ever-growing energy demands of data center and artificial intelligence sectors," said Alex Martini, CEO of Blockfusion.
Blockfusion’s facility has undergone a $25 million conversion from a decommissioned coal power plant to a data center powered by hydroelectric energy from Niagara Falls. The site currently offers 50MW of capacity, according to the company’s website.
Nasdaq-listed Nano is developing portable nuclear microreactors – the company was founded in New York in 2021 and went public earlier this year. Its Zeus solid-core battery microreactor, designed to fit within the dimensions of a 45-foot high-cube container, features a power conversion unit capable of generating one to two MW of electricity without the need for a fluid coolant. It is also developing Odin, a low-pressure coolant reactor.
Short seller Hunterbrook Capital has previously criticized Nano Nuclear for having “no revenue, no products, ‘laughable timelines,’ [and] part-time executives.” It said that it had taken a short position against Nano.
“We have long considered data centers focused on AI, quantum computing and crypto mining as an ideal potential customer for our micro nuclear reactors in development, and this MoU provides an excellent opportunity to explore the real-world demands our microreactors can meet for this important sector,” said Jay Yu, founder and chairman of Nano Nuclear.
Nano Nuclear has been tasked with exploring its potential to supplement the Blockfusion data center’s energy demands during off-peak hours or times of disruption.
“We are delighted that Blockfusion has chosen us to help research and to meet their energy demands with our next-generation, cutting-edge microreactor solutions,” added James Walker, CEO and head of reactor development of Nano Nuclear Energy. “The ability to meet remote energy demands like Blockfusion’s with minimal environmental impact and high reliability was the driving force behind the inception of Nano Nuclear.”
Small nuclear reactors have been proposed as a potential source of low-carbon energy for data centers which could effectively allow facilities to operate independently from the local grid. Questions still remain, however, whether such reactors will be deployed directly at data center campuses in behind-the-meter deployments or located elsewhere and connected to the grid.
Last year Blockchain firm Standard Power announced plans to procure 24 SMRs from NuScale for two US data center sites. Equinix and Wyoming Hyperscale have signed deals to source SMR-based energy from Oklo.
Blockfusion purchased the former coal-burning power plant on Frontier Avenue in 2019 and converted it to a cryptomine data center, hosting mining rigs for the likes of Bit Digital.
In May 2022 the site suffered a transformer explosion and fire. At the time the cause was believed to have been faulty equipment owned by the power utility.
Shortly after completing repair work, the company was forced to shut operations at the site after an ordinance change led to a cease and desist order from the City of Niagra Falls. The site was still dormant as of March 2023.
In other recent crypto news:
– Bitmain has filed a lawsuit against JWKJ Technologies, alleging the latter of locking Bitmain out of a data center in St. Louis, Missouri. JWKJ is claimed to have used Bitmain’s 6,000 Bitcoin mining machines to mine for its own purposes.
– Soluna has closed a $30 million financing from Spring Land Capital. The money will be used for a 48MW expansion of Soluna’s behind-the-meter Project Dorothy data center (aka Dorothy 2) in Texas. Dorothy 2 construction will commence in Q3 2024, achieving initial energization by Q1 2025 – it is set to host 13,700 Bitcoin mining rigs. Spring Land is deploying capital from its second private equity fund, Spring Lane Capital Fund II.
– Iris Energy has secured an additional 150MW of immediately available power capacity at its Childress site in Texas, following the approval of network studies by ERCOT and execution of an amended connection agreement with AEP.
– Greenidge has unveiled its Pod X for the first time publicly. Each 2.8MW pod has a capacity for 792 mining rigs. The company has already deployed 55mW of pods at its sites in New York, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Mississippi
