FX.co ★ AI boom breathes new life into Europe’s aging nuclear fleet

The artificial intelligence boom has handed European nuclear power a second chance. JPMorgan analysts say tech giants are scrambling for stable, low‑carbon power for new data centres, a need that weather‑dependent wind farms cannot reliably meet.

The European Commission estimates that server demand will jump to about 115 TWh by 2030 from roughly 70 TWh today. JPMorgan expects an even larger surge, with nearly half the additional load concentrated in Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula. Tech companies are already willing to pay up for reliability: Google signed a 22‑year deal with Finland’s Fortum to buy nuclear power at a 60% premium to market prices. Earlier, nuclear offtake agreements in the United States were struck by Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon.

Small modular reactors, sited close to data centres, would be an ideal solution, but they are not expected to come online in the EU before the early 2030s.

For now, policymakers are pivoting and rushing to extend the life of existing plants. The Commission estimates that Europe will need about €241 billion through 2050 to modernize and build reactors. France and the northern European states, which preserved their nuclear fleets and electricity surpluses, stand to be the main beneficiaries of the region’s emerging energy shortfall.