Texas Firm Proposes Retiring USS Nimitz Reactors for AI Data Center Power in Tennessee
HGP Intelligent Energy, a Texas-based energy company, has proposed to repurpose the nuclear reactors from the retired USS Nimitz aircraft carrier to generate electricity for data centers in Tennessee. The plan includes transferring the two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors to Oak Ridge National Laboratory following the Navy's decommissioning of the carrier, which is set to begin after its final deployment in December.
The reactors could produce up to 520 megawatts of power for energy-intensive AI infrastructure, potentially at a lower cost than constructing new reactors. This initiative coincides with the U.S. government's efforts to expand domestic AI capacity and represents the first attempt to reuse supercarrier reactors for civilian power generation.
