71% of Americans oppose AI data center construction in their areas, but nuclear start-up Oklo proposes pairing small modular reactors with data centers to address local opposition.

According to a Gallup poll, 71% of Americans oppose any construction of AI data centers in their area, with 48% strongly opposed and just 7% strongly supporting such construction. Local opposition has blocked or delayed at least $64 billion in U.S. data center construction projects since 2024.

Oklo is building its first prototype power plant with a small modular reactor (SMR) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The "Aurora powerhouse" will provide up to 75 MW of nuclear power and is scheduled to go online late next year. Oklo has partnered with manufacturer Vertiv to develop a cooling system that would serve both the reactor and an AI data center, with the reactor providing all the electricity needed.

Nuclear power plant construction polls 18 percentage points better than AI data center construction according to Gallup's poll, and carbon-neutral nuclear energy was found to be the least politically divisive form of energy generation. However, Oklo's business plan and technology are highly speculative, and details about what a co-located SMR data center would look like have not been publicly released.