AI data center could be built in Oak Ridge as part of Trump Administration's push to develop AI

AI data center could be built in Oak Ridge as part of Trump Administration's push to develop AI

The Trump administration is considering Oak Ridge for a new AI data center to boost AI development.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The Trump Administration is eyeing Oak Ridge for a new AI data center. The United States Department of Energy chose four potential sites for AI data centers and energy generation projects to help the trump administration remove obstacles to AI development. The Oak Ridge Reservation made the cut. The site is made up of three government owned, contractor operated sites: East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.

The Energy Secretary calls using DOE land like the Oak Ridge Reservation, a bold move to push AI forward. He calls it the next Manhattan project.

Oak Ridge leaders welcome the development.

"We're confident that we can help meet that challenge and win that race against the against adversaries and other parts of the country," said Mike McGill, the President of the Oak Ridge Corridor Development Corporation.

AI infrastructure is not new in Tennessee. An AI supercomputer is already housed in Memphis.

"We've just seen like an enormous amount of air pollution added to the burden that we already experienced in Memphis. We're one of the top asthma capitals in the country," said Scott Banbury, the conservation director for the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club.

There is also the issue of the electricity it requires, costing taxpayers.

"Somebody pays for the construction of the generating facilities, as well as the transmission infrastructure that delivers the power and ultimately that comes down on the backs of ratepayers," said Banbury.

Magill said hopefully, the TVA can help with power.

"We think that working with TVA will be a catalyst for the small modular reactors to be built more quickly. And those are clean, reliable, sustainable power that the country is gonna need in the near future," said Magill.

However, critics raising environmental concerns say they're not against AI, they just want to see it developed thoughtfully.

"We believe that what needs to happen is we don't need to be knocking down all the barriers which effectively are rules that have over the course of time been set in place to protect people from rash decisions and reckless development," said Stephen Smith, the executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Smith added that with the history of Oak Ridge, it's important that it isn't forgotten with development.

"When Oak Ridge was first developed during the Manhattan Project, in the name of national security, they created a huge environmental legacy of problems. Radioactive waste everywhere, they've got mercury in the soil in the rivers and then down in the basin of Watts Bar Reservoir, we have massive problems that came out of this sort of mindset. We're gonna go forward. We're not gonna obey anything. Oak Ridge has been down this road before. Now they're doing it again," said Smith.

But Magill said using nuclear power can help make it cleaner. A DOE spokesperson said that at this stage, private sector partners will be invited out to the four sites to explore the viability of AI data center and energy generation projects. Partners could be selected by the end of the year.