molten salt – Terrestrial Energy and Riot Platforms signed an agreement to colocate multiple 390 MW molten-salt reactors at future hyperscale data centers.
A nuclear power deal tied to the fast-growing world of AI data centers is drawing attention: Terrestrial Energy has agreed to supply power from fourth-generation molten salt reactors for operations tied to Riot Platforms’ planned hyperscale data centers.
Under the agreement. the US-based nuclear company will work with Riot Platforms. a developer of large-scale data centers. to power those facilities using Terrestrial’s Generation IV Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR).. The plan also includes colocating Terrestrial’s advanced nuclear reactors at data centers Riot intends to build in the future. positioning nuclear generation alongside the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure.
The timing is closely linked to the surge in artificial intelligence applications.. As companies race to build and run large language models, demand for data centers has intensified worldwide.. At the same time. big tech’s investment in the computing hardware that powers these systems has created a parallel pressure for steady. uninterrupted electricity to keep chips running and deliver services to end users.
While renewable power from solar and wind has long been viewed as a clean solution. competition for energy capacity has made it harder for many firms to rely on it alone for the scale and reliability that modern data centers require.. Gas-powered generation has increasingly been brought in to fill gaps. but nuclear power has remained a focal point because it can provide long-term supply for operators seeking both reliability and greener operations.
Terrestrial will contribute nuclear plant design knowledge and day-to-day operational expertise. while Riot will bring its capabilities in developing hyperscale data centers.. The partnership is built around Riot’s experience across design. engineering. construction. operations. and leasing. shaped in part by its background in large-scale digital infrastructure tied to bitcoin mining.
Terrestrial’s specific reactor technology is central to the appeal for data center operators.. The company’s Generation IV IMSR uses an approach in which the plant’s non-nuclear energy conversion systems are housed separately within the Thermal and Electric Facility.. That separation is presented as a competitive advantage versus smaller modular reactor designs. and it also opens the door to hybrid configurations where natural gas or other fuels can address site-specific power needs.
In the announcement. Terrestrial’s CEO Simon Irish framed the collaboration as a way to translate IMSR value into data center operations at larger scale.. He said the partnership is intended to build long-term strategic depth within Riot Platforms’ “power-first” approach. pairing what Terrestrial described as dependable. low-cost nuclear power with Riot’s ability to build and run large digital infrastructure.
Riot’s leadership highlighted the operational requirements of data centers serving today’s hyperscale customers.. Jason Les. Riot Platforms’ CEO. said the company’s facilities need reliable and predictable energy at the scale demanded by large cloud and AI customers. and argued that partnering with Terrestrial positions Riot’s developments at the forefront of data center deployment.
Behind the technology is a different way of using nuclear fuel and cooling.. Conventional fission reactors typically use water as a coolant, pumped through highly pressurized systems to cool fuel elements.. Terrestrial’s design instead uses molten salt as both fuel and coolant, enabling high-temperature, low-pressure operation.
Terrestrial also points to safety and efficiency benefits associated with the molten-salt approach. The company said an IMSR plant has a thermal efficiency of 44 percent and can generate 392 megawatts (MW) of energy from an 884 MW thermal reactor—described as 50% higher than conventional reactors.
The reactor’s fuel also reflects a choice that may matter for supply chains and deployment strategy.. Terrestrial said it uses standard assay low-enriched uranium (SALEU). with less than 5% uranium. rather than high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) used by some other fourth-generation reactor concepts.. The company further stated that. compared with conventional reactors. an IMSR can generate 50% more power for the same reactor size while requiring less space.
For hyperscale data centers. the core issue is not only the amount of power. but whether it can be delivered consistently as demand rises.. Riot’s leadership emphasized that data centers require baseload power. and it described that steady demand as an “ideal pairing” for developing alongside IMSR plants. suggesting nuclear generation could become a structural element in how future AI and high-performance computing workloads are supported.
The agreement reflects a broader shift in how the energy question is being treated in the AI era: as competition for compute accelerates. the ability to secure long-duration electricity supplies is becoming as strategic as the chips themselves.. By linking future reactor deployment with data center expansion. the Terrestrial-Riot partnership aims to address the reliability gap that many operators have faced while energy markets have tightened around high-growth digital demand.
molten salt reactors Terrestrial Energy Riot Platforms data centers power nuclear baseload AI electricity demand