Bitcoin mining can help fuel nuclear reactor development – scientist

(Kitco News) – Bitcoin (BTC) mining has been the subject of intense debate for years as the energy required to keep the network in operation, verify transactions, and create new blocks has surpassed that of the energy used by many small countries.

While miners have taken great strides to reduce their energy load and are one of the driving forces behind exploring renewable energy options, Ryan McLeod, a chemical technologist at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, says that Bitcoin mining and nuclear energy is an economically beneficial pairing that could help facilitate the creation of new reactor projects, specifically small modular reactors (SMRs).

According to the New Hampshire Commission on Nuclear Energy’s latest report, McLeod says that Bitcoin miners “could serve as a built-in customer for new reactor projects, providing a reliable electricity demand and enhancing investor confidence in advanced reactor deployment, even before a project receives its grid interconnection.”

McLeod made his case during a presentation at the Commission’s November meeting. To back his thesis, he cited existing examples of Bitcoin mining co-locating with nuclear plants and emphasized its role in “improving electricity system economics as an interruptible load that adapts to real-time grid conditions and pricing.”

He noted that early off-grid Bitcoin mining operations were powered by waste methane gas flare streams or landfill gas sites, avoiding the release of these harmful greenhouse gases. “Flexible mining data centers strategically sited directly at solar and wind renewable energy installations have also served as useful electricity load sinks during periods of excess intermittent production,” he said.

He cited TeraWulf, which owns a mining operation behind the meter at the Talen Energy-owned Susquehanna nuclear plant and uses non-grid-exported power. He also highlighted that NuScale has an agreement with Standard Power to provide up to twelve 77MWe small modular reactor power modules to power a mining data center.

McLeod previously assembled a team and entered the Innovation for Nuclear contest hosted by the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) organization. His winning entry proposed using Bitcoin mining as a flexible electricity load to support the deployment of nuclear reactors by guaranteeing demand.

This is noteworthy because the Canadian government is currently in discussions with companies like NuScale, Moltex, ARC Clean Energy, and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation to build small modular reactors (SMRs) for remote communities and mines, and they are looking for ways to ensure the projects have the necessary funding to operate.

McLeod’s presentation included a list of the potential benefits of integrating Bitcoin mining with nuclear plants.

He said it would “provide guaranteed electricity customers for purchasing nuclear plant output when online, regardless of whether transmission lines are ready to connect the facility to the wider grid. Having the financial certainty of a buyer in place improves investor confidence in capital-intensive new nuclear construction projects by contractually ensuring a revenue stream.”

He pointed to the “Recent trend of institutional investors expanding into the crypto asset class,” which “further enables Bitcoin mining operations to serve as anchor customers for small modular reactor plant operators.”

“In addition to monetizing excess energy, Bitcoin mining serves as a financial incentive for miners to contribute extra computing resources to protect the security and integrity of the Bitcoin network,” he added. “This computing power enables other applications like verifiable timestamping important data, such as election results, in an immutable blockchain ledger.”

McLeod also outlined pathways for nuclear plant operators looking to integrate Bitcoin mining. He cited companies like CleanSpark, which provides Bitcoin mining solutions optimized for grid stability and reliability, and Cathedra Bitcoin, whose New Hampshire facilities make portable Bitcoin mining containers powered by flare gas engines and have firmware for optimizing mining computers.

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“Turnkey self-contained Bitcoin mining data centers can be purchased pre-installed inside shipping containers for simple plug-and-play deployment,” he said, while “Foreman Mining sells fleet management software to monitor and control groups of mining machines remotely.”

“Permanent custom-designed industrial-scale mining facilities can be constructed on the physical site of the nuclear plant to host computers long-term,” he noted, adding, “A vertically integrated business model can be adopted with the operator owning the entire Bitcoin mining operation.

To help offload some of the risks involved, McLeod said partnerships, joint ventures, or hosting agreements with specialized external crypto-mining companies could be established, and pointed to Fabiano Consulting, which “provides expert guidance on deploying Bitcoin mining to improve grid economics.”

And to facilitate recouping mining earnings, he said new software platforms are in development, such as Synota, which can “enable direct streaming of Bitcoin payments from mining operations to energy providers in real-time based on actual electricity consumption rather than the traditional monthly billing system.”

McLeod concluded his presentation by noting that “Bitcoin cryptocurrency mining operations are gaining more mainstream institutional credibility,” and said, “Integrating mining to provide grid balancing and a guaranteed customer base can accelerate the global adoption of clean nuclear energy to benefit humanity by displacing fossil fuel generation.”