Cryptocurrency: Energy and E-Waste Memes Are FUD Propaganda Spread by Dying GovBankCorp

[grarpamp]

> and soon building their own nuclear power plants

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-miners-eye-nuclear-power-as-environmental-criticism-mounts-11632654002

When you think about it, bitcoin and nuclear power may be a match made
in heaven. Bitcoin is currently under fire for not being
environmentally friendly and nuclear power appears to finally be on
the verge of being recognized as a true ESG solution in energy.

Now, the synergies are starting to surface. Talen Energy Corp. has
just entered into a joint venture with bitcoin mining company TeraWulf
that has started development for a mining facility on a plot of land
the size of four football fields next to Talen's nuclear plant, the
Wall Street Journal reported this weekend.

Paul Prager, chief executive of TeraWulf said: “At the core of bitcoin
mining is energy and energy infrastructure."

Talen Energy President Alex Hernandez said: “We are building demand
adjacent to the existing nuclear plant."

Other nuclear projects, like Startup Oklo, who is planning on building
a small fission power plant, have signed supply deals as well. Startup
Oklo Inc. has signed a 20 year deal with Compass Mining, for example.

Sean Lawrie, partner at consulting firm ScottMadden Inc., said of the
synergies: “Both industry’s challenges are the other industry’s
positives."

While Bitcoin's environmental impact has been challenged, even by
advocates like Elon Musk, nuclear power has also fallen out of favor
over the last decade, following the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Travis Miller, energy and utilities strategist for Morningstar, told
the WSJ of nuclear plants: “They’re still making money because they’re
still running, but it’s very hard for them in the current power
markets to recover a fair return on their maintenance investments."

Hernandez continued, speaking about Talen: “We find ourselves in a
place where the power markets continue to be oversupplied, and in
general with a few exceptions, pretty weak."

For the time being, nuclear tie ups with crypto miners won't stave off
planned nuclear plant closures, according to Bill Dugan, a director at
Customized Energy Solutions.

"It would have to be a lot of them aggregated together," he said.

The appeal of such JVs for bitcoin miners is immense, however. It
allows miners to advertise that they have an environmentally sound
source of power.

Maxim Serezhin, chief executive at Standard Power, which is building a
nuclear-powered bitcoin-mining facility, told the WSJ about deciding
to use nuclear as an environmentally friendly option: "That was a big
differentiator for us.”

Finally, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has been touting Miami as a
destination for crypto miners. He says that the nearby nuclear-power
plant owned by Florida Power & Light Co. gives his city
environmentally friendly appeal for miners.

"Nuclear remains one of the only true ESG options for power going forward."