DOE eyes weapons complex for building data centers

The Department of Energy is seeking feedback on how 16 installations, mostly in the weapons complex, stack up as potential spots to develop artificial intelligence data centers.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday April 3 that DOE is issuing a request for information on how the 16 federal properties might work for permitting and construction of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Such facilities might be powered by on-site energy generation, including nuclear, which would benefit from fast-track permitting.

If things pan out, the Donald Trump administration hopes to have one or more data centers with home-grown power supplies, online by the end of 2027, according to a DOE press release.

The department seeks responses to the request for information within 30 days.

DOE wants input from developers of data centers and energy projects along with the public to inform decisions on the public-private partnerships that could emerge.

DOE seeks to enable the construction of AI infrastructure at select DOE sites to begin by the end of 2025, with a target of commencing operation by the end of 2027,” according to the department press release.

This past Tuesday, DOE also posted a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of building new data centers powered by nuclear energy. The summary said some disadvantages are that nuclear power’s supply chain is a work in progress and the spent fuel must still be stored. The summary paper also includes a link to a youtube video.

During the Joe Biden administration, DOE invited power project developers to pitch plans for carbon-free power generation at a handful of Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration sites (NNSA). The Trump administration seeks to expand upon the notion of developing underused DOE land by adding AI data centers to the mix.

Spots under study include Idaho National Laboratory; the Paducah Site in Kentucky; the Portsmouth Site in Ohio; Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois; Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois; National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, W.Va.; National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado; Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in New Jersey; Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico; Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico;  Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Pantex Plant in Texas and Kansas City National Security Campus. 

“The global race for AI dominance is the next Manhattan project, and with President Trump’s leadership and the innovation of our National Labs, the United States can and will win,” Wright said in the release.