Google plans to buy electricity from next-generation nuclear reactors. It announced the deal yesterday, which it says is the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase electricity from advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) that are still under development.

Google inked the deal with engineering company Kairos Power, which plans to get its first SMR up and running by 2030. Google agreed to purchase electricity from “multiple” reactors that would be built through 2035.

Google needs a lot more clean energy to meet its climate goals while pursuing its AI ambitions. New nuclear technologies are still unproven at scale, but the hope is that they can provide carbon pollution-free electricity while solving some of the problems that come with traditional nuclear power plants.

“Obviously, the trajectory of AI investments has added to the scale of the task needed,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in an interview with Nikkei earlier this month. “We are now looking at additional investments, be it solar, and evaluating technologies like small modular nuclear reactors, etc.”

What sets Google apart with this deal is that it’s turning to next-generation reactors rather than traditional nuclear power plants. SMRs are roughly one-tenth to one-quarter the size in comparison. Their size and modular design are supposed to make them cheaper and easier to build and site than their larger predecessors. And unlike solar and wind energy, which fluctuate with the weather and time of day, nuclear power plants can generate electricity around the clock. Even with new reactor designs, however, there are still environmental and health concerns when it comes to mining and enriching uranium for reactors and storing radioactive waste.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified a design for a small modular reactor for the first time last year. Experts tell The Verge they expect the first SMRs to connect to US power grids in the early 2030s at the earliest, and big tech’s interest in nuclear energy seems to be giving the industry a boost.

Google says its deal with Kairos Power would eventually help bring up to 500MW of carbon-free energy to power grids in the US. Kairos broke ground on its first demonstration reactor in Tennessee in July.

“Having an agreement for multiple deployments is important to accelerate the commercialization of advanced nuclear energy by demonstrating the technical and market viability,” Jeff Olson, Kairos Power vice president of business development and finance, said in a press release.

SpaceX launched Starship for its fifth flight test at about 8:25AM ET from its South Texas launch site. The company succeeded in returning the Starship Super Heavy booster to its landing pad, where it was “caught” using arms on the launch tower that SpaceX refers to as the “chopsticks.”

The catch was a first for the booster, which the company hadn’t returned without incident before its previous flight test in June. The company’s next task is to return Starship, which is expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean, as it did before.

Liftoff was delayed slightly while it cleared boats out of its launch range, pushing the flight test to the edge of its 30-minute launch window. The Federal Aviation Administration gave SpaceX approval for the test flight on Saturday, October 12th. It had originally expected to clear the fifth Starship test in November, but the FAA and its partner agencies reportedly carried out their assessments faster than anticipated.

Sibelco, one of the companies mining high-purity quartz in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, has resumed operations. In an update on Thursday, the company said that production and shipments of the quartz, which is crucial to the chipmaking process, are “progressively ramping up to full capacity.”

Spruce Pine has the only naturally occurring quartz in the world that’s pure enough to use as a crucible during the chip manufacturing process. In the past, some experts warned that any disruption to Spruce Pine quartz mining operations could have massive impacts on the supply chain for the chips that go into phones, computers, solar panels, and other devices.

The Quartz Corp, which also mines high-purity quartz in Spruce Pine, paused operations on September 26th. Despite this, it said it didn’t expect any “critical situation” for industries using the quartz due to existing stock and finished products throughout the supply chain.

“While the road to full recovery for our communities will be long, restarting our operations and resuming shipments to customers are important contributors to rebuilding the local economy,” Sibelco CEO Hilmar Rode said in the press release.