8,000 rigs wind up in the Nautilus mining facility

by · March 6, 2023

US-based Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf has fired up a new crypto mining facility in Pennsylvania – running entirely on nuclear power generated on site.

In its March 6 statement, TeraWulf said the Nautilus Cryptomine facility is its first “behind the meter” Bitcoin (BTC) mining facility, which refers to using energy directly at the production site without traveling through the network.

Nautilus Cryptomine draws direct carbon-free baseload power from the 2.5 gigawatt (GW) Susquehanna nuclear power plant on site.

Paul Prager, Chairman and CEO of TeraWulf claims that the Nautilus mining facility now has “arguably the lowest cost power in the sector, just $0.02/kWh for a period of five years.”

The company also revealed that it has now brought online nearly 8,000 mining rigs representing a computing power, or hash rate, of 1.0 exahashes per second (EH/s), with plans for another 8,000 miners by May, increasing the hash rate to 1.9 EH/s.

TeraWulf has a 50 megawatt (MW) stake in phase one of the new facility, a joint venture with Cumulus Coin, but may add another 50 MW of BTC mining capacity in future phases.

According to TeraWulf’s website, the Nautilus Cryptomine is expected to reach 300 MW when completed and will be among the largest mines in North America.

The Nautilus Cryptomine facility in Pennsylvania is entirely nuclear powered. Source: TeraWulf

First announced in August 2021, the Nautilus Cryptomine facility is the result of a partnership between TeraWulf’s nuclear mining subsidiary and power generation and infrastructure company Talen Energy Corporation.

Phase 1 of the joint venture included the 180-MW “Nautilus Cryptomine” built on Talen’s digital infrastructure campus next to the nuclear power station.

TeraWulf generates domestically produced BTC fueled by nuclear, hydro and solar power with a goal of harnessing 100% zero carbon energy.

Related: US lawmakers renew demand for EPA investigation of crypto mining emissions data

Concerns about the potential environmental impacts of BTC mining have increased in recent years with heated debates surrounding the environmental and energy impact of mining cryptoassets.

Last year, New York signed a two-year moratorium banning new fossil-fueled Bitcoin miners from setting up shop in the state.

While in October 2022, Europe moved towards regulatory actions on crypto’s alleged environmental impact as well.