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The Water We Forgot to Measure.
AI data centers have sparked conversations about water use. What happens if that electricity comes from nuclear power? This isn't a debate about whether nuclear energy is good or bad. It's a question about measurement.
One widely cited AI study estimates the electricity-generation portion of AI's water footprint at about 480 gallons per megawatt-hour using the average U.S. electricity mix.
Typical nuclear power plants consume roughly. 400–720 gallons per megawatt-hour to generate electricity.
If AI data centers were powered entirely by nuclear, the electricity-related portion of their water footprint could be similar or higher than the average value used in the AI study.
I'm not arguing for or against nuclear power.I'm asking a different question:
Why do we talk about the water footprint of electricity when the conversation is about AI... and rarely when it's about electric vehicles, heat pumps, or nuclear power?
Sometimes the most interesting part of a story isn't the number - it's why we started measuring one thing and not another.
What other technologies do we evaluate using one metric—while ignoring the same metric everywhere else?