A Nuclear Plant Now Powers Bitcoin Miner

A Nuclear Plant Now Powers Bitcoin Miner

Time Stamp: April 25, 2023 3:59 PM
Source Node: 2072392

The Susquehanna nuclear generation station in Pennsylvania now powers bitcoin mining, making it one of the first in the world to do so.

TeraWulf Inc, the owner and operator of numerous mining facilities, announced they are now fully utilizing the 50-MW stake in the power plant under the Nautilus Cryptomine facility.

“The Nautilus facility represents the first behind-the-meter Bitcoin mining facility of its kind, directly sourcing reliable, carbon-free, 24×7 baseload power from the 2.5 GW Susquehanna nuclear generation station in Pennsylvania,” the miner said.

They have fully deployed 50-MW and have the option to add an additional 50 MW of mining capacity.

“Deploying 50 MW of mining capacity at the Nautilus facility is an important milestone for the Company,” said Paul Prager, Chairman and CEO of TeraWulf, before adding:

“Not only does it represent the first nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining facility in the U.S., but TeraWulf now has the opportunity to realize the economic advantage of 50 MW of zero-carbon mining at what is arguably the lowest contracted power cost in the sector – just $0.02/kWh for a term of five years.”

2 cent per kWh is more than half of what miners used to pay in China, making this one of the most competitive price in the world.

Unless such energy is being taken from flared gas. Highlighting this new development, the World Economic Forum (WEF) showed in a video how bitcoin mining can be used to reduce methane emissions by using surplus gas to mine, instead of having it burned.

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As bitcoin mining is very mobile and can occur anywhere there is an internet connection, through wi-fi or satellite, miners can go to the energy source instead of the energy source going to where it will be used.

This can reduced cost due to lower infrastructure requirements as the energy does not need transportation, and can allow the otherwise wasted energy to be utilized fully while helping the environment by reducing the production of methane gas, a byproduct of flared gas.

TeraWulf says they expect to have a total operational capacity of 50,000 miners this quarter, which amounts to 5.5 EH/s.

The bitcoin network is currently running at an incredible 340 exahashes per second, making TeraWulf’s share about 1.5%.

91% of it is zero-carbon energy, the miner says, allowing it to secure the bitcoin network without contributing to climate change.

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