Palantir partners to develop AI software for nuclear construction

Palantir CEO Alex Karp in Paris, on May 15, 2019. (Thibault Camus / AP)

Palantir Technologies on Thursday said it was teaming up with a nuclear deployment company to develop an artificial intelligence-driven software system built for the construction of nuclear reactors.

Nuclear energy has garnered renewed interest from investors and companies, as it is considered to be a cleaner source of fuel and more reliable than wind or solar energy.

Palantir and Nuclear Company will jointly create the nuclear operating system (NOS), which will simplify construction, allowing the firm to build plants faster and at lower cost.

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The deal follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders that aimed to boost U.S. nuclear energy production amid a boom in demand from data centers and AI.

The orders, signed in May, direct the nation’s independent nuclear regulatory commission to cut down on regulations and fast-track new licenses for reactors and power plants.

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Kentucky-based Nuclear Company will pay the data analytics company around US$100 million over five years to develop the platform, according to a Palantir spokesperson.

The industry is also expected to benefit from Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which rolled back many green-energy subsidies but preserved tax credits for nuclear energy.

U.S. power consumption is estimated to reach record highs in 2025 and 2026 after stagnating for nearly two decades, as power-hungry data centers dedicated to AI and crypto miners plug into the grid.

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Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Maju Samuel