The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will be the location of one of four sites selected to host new, “cutting edge AI data center and energy generation projects,” which will establish the United States’ dominance in the growing field of artificial intelligence (AI).
According to a press release from the federal agency, the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee was selected alongside other sites in Idaho, Kentucky, and South Carolina, “to develop cutting edge AI data center and energy generation projects,” with support from the private sector, to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of using federal land to bolster the country’s economic standing.
“By leveraging DOE land assets for the deployment of AI and energy infrastructure, we are taking a bold step to accelerate the next Manhattan Project—ensuring U.S. AI and energy leadership,” stated Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who called the selected sites, “uniquely positioned to host data centers as well as power generation to bolster grid reliability,” which will both strengthen the country’s national security while lowering energy costs to consumers.
Wright’s agency previously announced that Tennessee was one of 16 sites identified for potential development in April, when it sought to gauge interest from developers and the public to determine which sites would be viable.
The selection of the Oak Ridge location comes after Wright predicted in March that Tennessee would play a significant role in a new Manhattan Project, the program that spurred American scientists to split the atom during the second World War, which paved the way for scientists to create both nuclear weapons and power plants.
“Imagine the world today if the Nazis developed atomic weapons before the United States? That’s a very different world,” said Wright during a visit to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in March.
“We are at a critical time again right now, where another technology of simply immense import is hitting critical mass and is going to change our world in the next several years. That’s artificial intelligence,” he added.
The secretary stated, “There’s a race; China has huge resources, they are massively focused on artificial intelligence.”
Tennessee similarly may see the construction of new nuclear facilities, as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in May submitted an application to build a small modular reactor (SMR) at a site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, following the push from U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN).
Hagerty and Blackburn wrote earlier this year, “TVA could lead the way in our nation’s nuclear energy revival, empower us to dominate the 21st century’s global technology competition, and cement President Trump’s legacy as ‘America’s Nuclear President.’”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
