> Microsoft and Amazon have had to cancel several new data centers (opens in new tab)> Oracle and Google data centers taken down by UK heatwave (opens in new tab)> Tech giants’ data centers could soon be warming your home (opens in new tab)> Oracle and Google data centers taken down by UK heatwave (opens in new tab)> Tech giants’ data centers could soon be warming your home (opens in new tab)Speaking to The Register (opens in new tab), one of the co-authors of the report, Alan Howard, said that getting an accurate figure of the power consumption of the data centers used by cloud storage providers is tricky, as they often don't provide such figures easily or accurately.One problem, however, is the amount space needed to accommodate SMRs, typically requiring around 200,000 square feet.Additionally, he also claimed that even smaller reactors, known as microreactors, could be used for backup power in data centers, as a replacement for batteries and diesel generators used currently.Radioactive byproducts remain for a long time; they are highly toxic and there is no way to get rid of them, other than to store them in barrels and wait, possibly up to thousands of years, until they become safe.However, the US Energy Information Agency (opens in new tab) expects wind and natural gas to increase, and for solar to remain the same, in the coming decades, making SMR more favorable by comparison."