Finishing the First Nuclear-Powered Bitcoin Mining Facility in the US
The first nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining facility in the US, Talen Energy’s Cumulus data center, has been completed and will soon be ready to receive its first customers. The facility, which is directly connected to the Susquehanna nuclear station, is the product of Talen Energy’s relationship with top Bitcoin mining firm TerraWulf and represents a critical turning point for the future of nuclear energy in the US.
Bringing Crypto and Renewable Energy Together
The opening of this plant coincides with the cryptocurrency sector’s progress toward its objective of relying on green energy sources. Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter and Tesla, brought attention to this push for environmental friendliness in July 2021 when he declared that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin as a means of payment owing to its high energy use. Despite this, research indicates that Bitcoin still uses more than 50 times less energy than the established global financial system it seeks to replace.
The Nuclear Energy Industry’s Challenges
However, the US bureaucracy continues to stand in the way of creative advancement in the nuclear energy sector. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently rejected the San Francisco start-up Oklo’s application to provide green energy options for cryptocurrency miners (NRC). Prior to its cryptocurrency prohibition, China accounted for a sizable part of the world’s usage of renewable energy.
Lower Bitcoin Mining Production
The Bitcoin mining sector has also been affected by the bear market, with some major mining firms declaring bankruptcy as a result of falling Bitcoin prices, rising mining costs, and significant debts. Examples of significant mining businesses that encountered these difficulties are Core Scientific and Compute North.