Brookhaven National Lab among sites being considered for AI data center
Brookhaven National Laboratory is on a list of U.S. Department of Energy-controlled sites that could be home to artificial intelligence data centers and related infrastructure development, including a new large power plant, according to a recently released federal request for information.
The request, which will inform future procurements of critical AI infrastructure by the federal government, is part of a plan to maintain the country’s position at the "forefront of artificial intelligence innovation," according to the filing.
In an appendix included with the information request, the agency ponders building a 90-acre-plus AI data center primarily in wooded areas of the Upton campus in BNL’s special "Discovery Park District." The information request notes that the lab is in "close proximity of the existing Caithness Long Island Energy Center, which could be the site of a new 750mw gas turbine plant for the data center." The plan even has an artist’s rendering of what the new plant could look like.
The DOE owns and operates the 5,322-acre BNL site in Upton, which is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates.
A Brookhaven National Lab spokesman referred an email seeking comment to the Department of Energy, which did not immediately respond.
Newsday last month reported that BNL has quietly begun a search for potential future power sources for such a facility. Caithness Energy, which already operates a 350-megawatt power plant in Yaphank, has plans for a 750-megawatt plant on its own land that could be a contender, three sources told Newsday.
The Caithness plant alone, if built, would cost more than $1 billion, according to 2014 estimates reported by Newsday. The power plant would require a new natural gas pipeline to fuel it, Newsday has reported.
Long Island could have a key local advocate for BNL projects. In late February, the Federal Newswire announced that former Suffolk County GOP chairman John Jay LaValle was named White House liaison to the Department of Energy. LaValle has been a public proponent of President Donald Trump.
Staying ahead on AI is a "key national and economic security priority," according to the DOE notice, which lists BNL among 16 other federally owned or controlled sites that could house AI infrastructure.
"DOE sites offer potential advantages such as access to or the potential to build power infrastructure, secure locations, and opportunities for technological collaboration with DOE research facilities," the request noted. "DOE is considering opportunities to utilize these assets in a manner that enhances the United States’ leading position in AI and benefits local economies."
The AI facilities could include "specialized IT equipment and associated cooling facilities, and their energy supply, including sources of generation, transmission (including substations), and storage," the report said, noting that federal labs have been developing AI tools "for decades" to "support science, energy, and security missions."
The Long Island Power Authority had originally considered using the Caithness II plant in 2013, but ultimately decided against it, after a PSEG analysis of LIPA’s future energy needs determined it wasn’t needed.
A spokesman for Caithness didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but a senior Caithness official last month told Newsday: "If they [BNL] need more power, we are certainly ready to consider it and would build something that’s upgraded from Caithness 1 in terms of efficiency."
The project appears to be on a fast track. The department wants to “enable the construction of AI infrastructure at select DOE sites to begin by the end of 2025,” and have them operating by the end of 2027, the information request states.
The Energy Department and its federal labs have already “been developing cutting-edge AI tools to support science, energy, and security missions,” the document says, including supercomputers, “cutting-edge algorithms and software." Scientists at the facilities are charged with addressing “the most critical energy, security, and science challenges of our time.”
The new AI data centers can be an “opportunity to accelerate deployment of key technologies like nuclear, geothermal, and energy storage…” Green technologies such as solar and wind energy aren’t mentioned. BNL is already home to a large solar array.
Energy sources that could be located on the federally controlled sites include nuclear reactors, "enhanced geothermal systems, fuel cells, carbon capture, energy storage systems, and portfolios of on-site technologies,” the request states.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
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