Nvidia and PreussenElektra to study converting German nuclear sites into AI data centers
The feasibility study covers grid links, land and industrial infrastructure, and no investment, plans or construction contracts have been agreed yet.
Nvidia and German utility PreussenElektra (PEL) have agreed a preliminary partnership to test whether PEL's decommissioned nuclear plant sites in Germany could host high-performance AI data centers, announced October 21. The study will examine grid connections, available land and industrial infrastructure at the former sites to judge whether they meet the operating requirements of so-called AI factories. The appeal for developers and operators is that such sites already have the power links, industrial-zone status and water access that new builds struggle to secure, which could cut cost and timelines. The effort is strictly a feasibility exercise: no investment figures, development plans or construction contracts have been agreed, and the project is about infrastructure rather than running data centers on nuclear power. PEL is currently dismantling eight of Germany's plants, which are the likely candidates, after the country shut its last operating reactors in April 2023.
Why it matters
The study looks at whether sites Germany has already shut down can take on a new industrial role, which would give a way to reuse former power-plant land rather than leaving it idle. Its outcome would show whether existing grid connections and industrial zoning can carry high-performance computing at a lower cost than new builds. For now the project is a feasibility exercise, and it concerns the physical infrastructure at these sites rather than powering data centers with nuclear energy.
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