By George Ward
The rapid expansion of the digital asset ecosystem has seen the demand for more Bitcoin mining facilities. Accordingly, the United States will house its first nuclear-powered BTC mining center, which is reported to be located in the state of Pennsylvania.
Developing A Nuclear-Based BTC Mining Infrastructure
According to a report released by the World Nuclear News recently, the zero-carbon data center developer Cumulus Data has completed the powered shell part for its first nuclear-driven data center powered by a 2.5-gigawatts nuclear power plant. The data center is reportedly located on a 300,000-square-foot capacity directly linked with the Susquehanna nuclear power plant based in northeast Pennsylvania.
In addition, the center has a 1,200-acre space expected to house the BTC mining and cloud computing services, which is the first of its kind in America. The new development is expected to solve the energy trilemma, which the industry defined as the rising consumer demand for zero-carbon, affordable, clean electricity for data center consumers.
Alex Hernandez, the CEO of Cumulus Data, stressed that aside from the 48-megawatt powered center, two additional hubs are currently in their advanced stage of development and part of the project’s first phase. Furthermore, Hernandez added that the two upcoming systems have an aggregate capacity of 475 megawatts for the campus.
The firm has already identified 18 other sites belonging to Talen Energy that could become data centers and directly joined to the power station. Meanwhile, the first announcement for developing the zero-carbon Bitcoin mining center, also known as the Nautilus Cryptomine, was initially made in August 2021.
At the announcement, Talen Energy inked an agreement for a joint venture with TeraWulf, the crypto mining company based in the United States. Despite the suspension of construction activities at the Bitcoin mining site in Dember 2022, TeraWulf stated that the project has since entered the first phase before ramping up operations in the first quarter of 2023.
Increase In Eco-Friendly Bitcoin Mining
Apart from the nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining drive in the US, another development is taking place to provide low-cost and environmentally friendly activities. The Virunga National Park, located in the eastern part of Congo, mines BTC using hydroelectric-powered facilities.
The move aims to provide the needed funding to help protect the forests and enhance wildlife conservatism in one of Africa’s oldest parks. Furthermore, the Virunga National Park has been impacted by years of militia conflicts, deforestation, and low government support in managing the rich forest resources.
With zero-carbon Bitcoin mining, miners utilize sunlight with the help of solar panels to trap the energy from the sun. However, for zero-carbon mining to be successful, an Antiminer S19 with 72 kWh per day with a 14 kWh solar system is required.
Meanwhile, the drive for zero carbon emission has helped trigger the rapid adoption of zero carbon.