We Can’t Plug a Data Center Into a Press Release

Proven technology. Georgia Power The Trump Media + TAE Fusion Power merger (https://tae.com/trump-media-and-technology-group-to-merge-with-tae-technologies/) still reads like a deal someone dreamed up in the airport bar during a 3-hour delay. A social media company with meme-stock metabolism merges with a fusion startup that hasn’t produced a single net watt… and now suddenly we’re building the “world’s first utility-scale fusion plant” next year. Sure. And I’m breaking ground on the world’s first intergalactic concrete batch plant on Monday. In our world, “begin construction” has a very flexible definition. Most of the time it just means a politician held a shovel for a photo op next to a survey stake. And sometimes the survey stake isn’t even there—just optimism, a camera crew, and a drone shot for the website banner. By the way, thank you to Governor Youngkin for the masterclass in this strategy—getting Virginians spun up over mega-projects that may never pour a yard of concrete as he heads for the exit. We’ve got counties zoning as if they’re about to host the next Apollo program, and the only thing landing is the PowerPoint deck. Back to fusion. The problem isn’t ambition—it’s pretending ambition is a plan. Fusion has never produced net energy. Not once. It’s like bragging about a miracle mix that cures in 45 minutes, resists ASR, finishes itself, and gives the superintendent a back massage—but you haven’t actually used it to place a sidewalk. Meanwhile, the grown-up energy solution—modern nuclear fission—exists today and works. The AP-1000 reactor design basically refuses to melt down, even if you try. Don’t take my word for it; the NRC has already done the homework: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0305/ML030510639.pdf And that nuclear waste everyone hyperventilates about? Here’s the scale people never hear: Since the 1950s—roughly 70 years—from 90+ commercial reactors, the U.S. has produced enough spent fuel to fill one football field about nine yards deep. That’s it. Seven decades of power. One field. Meanwhile coal ash is in the hundreds of millions of tons every single year. But sure, let’s panic about the thing that fits in a stadium footprint and pretend renderings and hype are going to power the entire grid. Stick the waste in steel and concrete canisters underground, like the industry already does. Again—concrete solves the problem. Funny how often that’s the answer. A major data center developer once told me something that stuck: “It’s actually a good thing the power grid is constrained. If it weren’t, we’d be massively overbuilt and upside-down.” He’s right. Constraint forces clarity. It forces planning. It forces engineering instead of marketing. The lack of power is actually making us rethink how we get power. And here’s where it gets interesting. The data centers going up today might be the excuse—for America to build onsite generation at scale. Gas turbines, small modular reactors, microgrids —stuff that actually produces electricity. Then here’s phase two: someday those same data centers will either (1) become obsolete, or (2) demand less power because servers and chips get more efficient. When that day hits? All that onsite generation turns into production capacity that can push power back into the grid. Suddenly the grid isn’t short—we’re long. Suddenly price per kWh isn’t pain—it’s leverage. Suddenly supply greater than demand. And that’s when power gets cheap. Not because of magic. Not because of fusion. Not because of a press release. Because we built it. Fusion can keep dreaming. Politicians can keep showing up with shiny hard hats they’ve never sweated in. And Trump Media can keep announcing energy plans like someone lost a bet at a country club. Because let’s be honest: this merger isn’t an energy strategy. It’s a distraction. It’s a stock promotion with a lab coat on. It feels less like building the future and more like a creative tax write-off with better branding.