Regulators block Meta’s and Amazon's nuclear energy AI plans

The news: Regulators blocked Meta’s and Amazon’s plans to power their AI with nuclear energy, though neither case has to do with anxieties about nuclear energy itself.

  • The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected Amazon’s project because of the data centers’ potential to affect local electricity grids and raise energy costs for consumers.
  • The identification of a rare bee species on a location next to where Meta wanted to build an AI data center created an environmental concern for regulators.