A swarm of honeybees appears to have thwarted Meta's nuclear AI ambitions

The construction of big technology never went smoothly. If you are not dealing with money issues, you may stumble upon human remains. You will have to put your project on hold while you determine the best place for these bones. This latest snag in the works of tech's machinations wasn't on my bingo card.

As we've covered previously, AI requires a huge amount of power. Major players are attempting to meet this demand in a manner that facilitates a future free of carbon. Meta hoped to follow in the footsteps of Google and Amazon, hoping to strike a deal to power their AI ambitions with a nuclear provider. The plan was for a new data center to be built right next to a nuclear power plant. According to Ars Technica, the land that had been earmarked for the development was close to a rare and endangered species of bee. That's got to sting.

We're sorry bug fans, but we still don't know what species bees are involved. However, we do know that the arthropods are buzzing around on the plot of land currently being proposed for data centre development. Meta's hive is not the only obstacle they face.

Meta has not yet responded to Ars Technica, but sources familiar with the project told Ars Technica the project faces additional challenges of both a regulatory and environmental nature. Meta wants to achieve "net zero" emissions by 2020, and also cook up nuclear-powered AI before the competition. This is not ideal.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's head, has also expressed frustration in the past about the lack of nuclear options available in the US as compared to China. We've already discussed the growing interest in small modular nuclear reactors by big tech, but despite this, only one design has been approved for the US, while China is already building its Linglong One SMR.

China has also built more nuclear reactors in the last 20 years that aren't SMRs. If Meta still wants to develop near a power station, there aren't many other options.

The nuclear power source is still attractive to big tech companies because it can meet the data centre's round-the-clock power needs. Renewable energy sources, on the other hand, would require massive batteries or other workarounds. Nuclear power is not the easiest option. Aside from the many nuclear accidents that are still fresh in our minds (or the huge strides in safety that have been made since), there is also the issue of nuclear waste, and how it should be stored.

Although nuclear power is often touted as carbon-free, it can still pose a serious environmental risk (to put things mildly). It's hard to not be a bit tickled by the place where these bees live. Nature and nuclear might have a bright future together, but Meta's AI aspirations seem to have been scuppered for the moment. And for the endangered bee hive that's the best thing ever.