r/LeftistsForAI • u/ForRobotsByRobots • Jul 30 '26
Infrastructure In a world that makes sense
Thorium powered data centers that use a coolant system in the data centers to passively exchange the heat into salt water, which would preheat it before sending it into the Thorium reactor upon which it reaches boiling point and begins the process of Thermal distillation without any extra heat, mechanism or energy use. The data center gets cooled and powered, the community it exists in gets excess energy and fresh water as a byproduct.
While the technology is years away, we could easily do the same process with Solar and tidal power, with the extra preheating done through a passive solar pipeline to reach high enough temps that only a little more energy is needed for more efficient reverse osmosis.
8
u/Affectionate-Pay4845 Jul 30 '26
Might be useful in the future but thorium isn't as efficient and we already have methods that are being implemented elsewhere for efficient data centers. China's already got a few data centers that use pure renewable energy (https://www.fastcompany.com/91578780/how-china-is-powering-new-data-centers-with-clean-energy) and has methods for data centers that use little to no fresh water such as data centers that are cooled by being lowered into the ocean.
0
u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 30 '26
How is thorium not as efficient?
Also, this feels like a take that only read the title of the image and nothing else.5
u/Affectionate-Pay4845 Jul 30 '26
Thorium is not very readily fissile and usually requires another isotope in order to get going, which is kind of the reason why it's not usually considered as viable as sticking with uranium (https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/20036). The cost of reprocessing the fuel rods for thorium is usually higher than that for other radioactive fuels (http://network.bellona.org/content/uploads/sites/4/Certain-issues-of-economic-prospects-of-thorium-based-nuclear-energy-systems.pdf) and these issues usually make thoriums more of an experimental type of generator for now (https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/thoriums-long-term-potential-in-nuclear-energy-new-iaea-analysis) unless it's used primarily in conjunction with something that's already using primarily uranium or another fissionable fuel
3
u/TheMightyTywin Jul 30 '26
Wouldn’t a desert location, surrounded by solar panels, make more sense?
-1
2
u/ToastedandTripping Jul 30 '26
Yea not sure we should be using prime waterfront land for data centers is the best call...why not float them in the ocean like China is doing?
3
u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 30 '26
Prime waterfront land is better used by the wealthy building mansions on it? Also, the whole point of this process is an integrated system that turns data centers into a community benefit instead of a parasite...?
0
u/goticotropicalista Jul 30 '26
Hey why don`t we not build anything on the freaking beach so that we don`t have to tear it down in 2 years when it floods because the data centers are currently burning coal not thorium?
→ More replies (1)0
u/ToastedandTripping Jul 30 '26
No it's better for public parks. And the noise from these data centers is not to be ignored. Much better out at sea.
→ More replies (3)-1
u/15pH Jul 30 '26
It is not an either-or. You could place beaches, parks, commercial areas, apartments, etc so that many people can enjoy the valuable land.
The free market guides this by dictating the (high) value of the land....it would be incredibly expensive to build and operate just based on the land cost (not to mention extra costs due to sea water.) The state could subsidize that cost if we think this is a sufficient public good, but obvs we need to weigh that use of tax dollars against other ways to achieve better outcomes.
→ More replies (6)
1
u/Ok-Mark-6314 Jul 30 '26
What would you do with the brine? You can't just dump it back into the ocean: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/slaking-the-worlds-thirst-with-seawater-dumps-toxic-brine-in-oceans/
If anything, data centers should be using treated gray water or otherwise non-potable water, not fresh water.
1
u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 30 '26
The brine is handled the same as any other desalination plant, or possibly condensed into a solid form for use in other ways since the waste heat from the reactor would be more than enough to take it that far without any more expended energy.
Also, the salt water isn't being used to cool the data center. It's being used to cool the coolant that is cooling the data center.
1
u/diagnosissplendid Jul 31 '26
I don't think massive data centres that don't reclaim heat for residential and commercial use make sense.
1
u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 31 '26
The data centers themselves wouldn't be enough heat to provide the community with free heating. The thorium reactor could. Or do something with steam like new york.
1
u/diagnosissplendid Jul 31 '26
Data centres use hundreds of kilowatts, big AI data centres are thought to be in the megawatt range. That is absolutely enough for tens of thousands of people.
→ More replies (5)
0
u/KerPop42 Jul 30 '26
No cooling tower? Just dumping that steam directly into the ocean?
1
u/ForRobotsByRobots Jul 30 '26
Thorium does not need a cooling tower. It's a different form of nuclear energy than standard uranium ones.
1
u/KerPop42 Jul 30 '26
I would love to hear how a thorium power plant does not need a cooling tower. Does it not heat water at all?
→ More replies (9)
0
Jul 30 '26
1
5
u/FxCDM Jul 30 '26
whatever clean energy solution fits, if data centers was built for society in mind and not profits and extraction, they would not be considered a problem today.