Das Mega-Rechenzentrum in Utah könnte pro Tag Energie im Wert von 23 Atombomben abwerfen
https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/05/13/utah-mega-datacenter-could-dump-23-atomic-bombs-worth-of-energy-per-day/5239670
Das Mega-Rechenzentrum in Utah könnte pro Tag Energie im Wert von 23 Atombomben abwerfen
https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/05/13/utah-mega-datacenter-could-dump-23-atomic-bombs-worth-of-energy-per-day/5239670
14 Kommentare
Utah State University physics professor Dr Rob Davies estimated that the proposed Stratos campus and its associated natural gas power plant could dump energy equivalent to 23 atomic bombs per day into the surrounding Hansel Valley. Davies’ preliminary analysis said this could raise daytime temperatures by 2°F to 5°F (1°C to 3°C) and nighttime temperatures by 8°F to 12°F (4°C to 6°C), potentially causing serious ecological impacts in the high-desert valley.
A recent study by a team at the University of Cambridge also suggested that datacenters can create heat islands, raising surrounding temperatures by several degrees at distances of up to 10 km (over 6 miles).
The Stratos Project is intended as a long-term scheme, with a multi-year buildout, meaning that it may not reach full capacity for a decade, if at all.
Reports suggest that the finance industry is becoming increasingly concerned about the level of borrowing that is needed to continue this datacenter build boom.
Anything but metric.
There is no one size of atomic bomb and yields span over 4 orders of magnitude.
I wonder if the protestors listen to utah saints song ’something good‘ to get themselves pumped. The something good could end up being ironic if the planned data centre goes ahead.
I wonder how much of that goes towards cooling the servers.
For context how many nukes per day for everything else? Lol
How do they get the infrastructure necessary for that. Everytime we plan something it’s not enough electricity available, or no big data connection line available or whatnot…
That’s a strange unit of energy to choose.
Bombs emit a huge amount of energy over a very short period of time (microseconds). While a data centre will use a lot of energy continuously. The two are not directly comparable. Only ‘headlines’ would do this.
The scale of modern AI/datacenter infrastructure is becoming hard for people to intuitively grasp. When energy discussions start being framed in “atomic bomb equivalents,” it highlights how AI, cloud computing, and digital infrastructure are no longer just software conversations they are industrial-scale energy and resource conversations.
Datacenters are complicated because of the power and cooling involved, and I have zero confidence that Utah’s state government has the experience and capability to do this in a way that benefits the citizens of Utah.
Does anyone know if they do anything useful with the heat generated?
Hmm, that math is… off. 9GW for 24 hours = 216GWh.
1 kiloton of TNT is ~ 1.162 GWh so 216 / 1.162 = ~185.8 kilotons of TNT over 24 hours. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was ~15 kilotons so this is more like 12.3 atomic bombs a day. Of course most bombs now are well over 100kt anyway.
Still, that’s a lot of heat, it’s like detonating 2.15 tons of TNT a second or burning 64 gallons of jet fuel a second?
I 100% believe that thing will never come fully online and the AI bubble will burst first
The part where it’s not radioactive and all at the same nanosecond is a pretty big distinction.
thats not a data center then. Theres a reactor down there.