CLARIFICATION: This column’s headline has been updated to better reflect the columnist’s argument.
Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own.
Prince George’s County faces a crucial moment in its economic development.
As the demand for data centers rises, the county must address both the opportunities and challenges associated with hosting these energy-intensive facilities. Data centers represent $1.3 billion industry, capable of transforming local economies, as evidenced by Loudoun County in Virginia, where nearly 200 data centers contribute 42 percent of the local tax base.
But in Prince George’s County, community concerns about environmental impacts and energy demands have paused approvals for new data centers.
The county council’s November decision to delay approvals reflects valid concerns about pollution, grid strain and insufficient infrastructure. Data centers require vast amounts of electricity, with some facilities consuming as much energy as 1 to megawatts for smaller sized ones, to 20 to 100 megawatts for larger centers. This level of energy demand poses significant challenges for local grids and has raised fears of higher utility costs for residents.
Balancing these concerns with economic opportunities requires innovative and sustainable solutions. The University of Maryland presents one such opportunity.
The campus has consumed more than 2 million British thermal units of energy each year since 2015 — nearly the equivalent amount of energy that about 77,000 houses would use in a year.
This consumption mirrors the energy demands of a large data center, which highlights the possible overlap to address the county’s needs. With its existing research reactor, this university could lead in implementing a small modular reactor, a transformative technology that can sustainably power both the university and alleviate some of the energy consumption in the region.
Small modular reactors are compact, efficient and capable of producing up to 300 megawatts of clean electricity. Unlike traditional power plants, the reactors produce no greenhouse gases and have a small physical footprint, which makes them suitable for urban or campus settings.
One small modular reactor could meet and exceed the university’s annual energy needs, allowing it to achieve energy independence and drastically reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
This university is also positioned to adopt small modular reactor technology. Its current research reactor serves as a foundation for advancing nuclear technology on campus. The university golf course would provide the sufficient land build this kind of reactor, which would not only power the university, but also provide surplus energy to local infrastructure, including potential data centers.
The approach could address community concerns about environmental degradation and support the county’s broader economic and sustainability goals — a solution to the concerns outlined in the county council’s decision to delay data center approvals.
Not only that, but universities across the United States are already exploring small modular reactors as part of their energy strategies. The University of Illinois is researching the feasibility of implementing its own reactor to achieve carbon neutrality and provide more power in its plans to expand upon its AI prospects with a campus supercomputer. The Idaho National Laboratory is also advancing research and partnerships to demonstrate the feasibility of modular reactors. This goes to show that there exists a potential for academic institutions to lead in clean energy innovation and collaboration with local communities.
Adopting this kind of reactor at the university could be important for economic development in Prince George’s County. By providing a reliable and sustainable energy source, the reactor would help alleviate some of the energy constraints, allowing for the county to be an attractive destination for major tech companies and energy-intensive industries like data centers. This could bring in significant investment, create high-quality jobs in construction, engineering and energy management, and support local businesses that would benefit from the increased economic activity.
As for concerns regarding the reactors themselves and the operability, they could operate for years without refueling, require minimal land and produce no carbon emissions, addressing many of the community’s concerns about traditional energy sources.
For Prince George’s County, integrating a small modular reactor into its energy strategy offers a way to support economic development while ensuring environmental friendliness and community well-being.
Anderson Lemus-Del Cid is a senior government and politics and philosophy major. He can be reached at alemus02@terpmail.umd.edu.
