Flooded Limestone Quarry Basin
Pisgah Bay Rock Quarry offers an existing flooded basin with limestone walls and floor. The planning premise avoids new excavation and uses the quarry's stable thermal mass as part of the cooling concept.
Flagship Project
Node Zero
A submerged compute proof-of-concept inside a flooded limestone quarry.
Pisgah Bay Rock Quarry · Kentucky Lake · Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky
What Node Zero Is
The first implementation target for the Stewardship Node model.
Compute infrastructure planned around the limits and needs of the site that hosts it.
Node Zero is Stewardship Compute's proof-of-concept target for submerged compute inside a flooded limestone quarry basin. The project is planned around Pisgah Bay Rock Quarry at Kentucky Lake, within the Land Between the Lakes region of Kentucky.
The model pairs sealed compute enclosures with quarry thermal mass, then ties operations to ecological monitoring, circulation design, and restoration accountability. The goal is not to claim impact before evidence. The goal is to measure the site before expansion and make performance visible enough to be reviewed.
Node Zero is designed as infrastructure with obligations: engineering review, institutional access, baseline sensor work, public reporting pathways, and a governance model that keeps restoration and prohibited workload enforcement part of the operating logic.
Why This Site Matters
A rare convergence of water, geology, infrastructure, and reviewable context.
Node Zero is not proposed as a generic data center site. Its planning value comes from a specific flooded quarry basin inside a larger Kentucky Lake and TVA-managed water system, with surrounding public land and existing regional infrastructure.
Kentucky Lake / TVA Water System
The quarry sits in the Kentucky Lake region, within a TVA-managed water context. Any work here requires review, access, and coordination with the responsible public systems.
Kentucky Dam + Barkley Dam
Proximity to Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam creates a serious infrastructure setting for evaluating power, redundancy, and grid pathways. The energy strategy remains subject to utility review and agreement.
Land Between the Lakes
The surrounding Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area shapes the project's ecological responsibilities. Site access and any pilot activity require appropriate agency review.
Existing Regional Infrastructure
The region includes transmission, water-system, and river-transport context, plus historic water quality data from the Cumberland River at Grand Rivers dating to 1908. That history matters for baseline comparison.
No Community Displacement Premise
The concept is centered on an already flooded quarry basin rather than a residential footprint. The plan does not depend on community displacement, but it still requires formal review and public accountability.
Site context: Grand Rivers, Livingston County, Kentucky. The proposed project area sits in the Kentucky Lake region between Kentucky Dam near Gilbertsville and Barkley Dam near Kuttawa, pending the access and review pathways required for any field work.
How The Model Works
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Submerged compute, measured before expansion.
Submerge
Compute hardware would be sealed in waterproof modular enclosures and lowered into the quarry basin under reviewed deployment and retrieval protocols.
Cool
The quarry water is intended to provide stable thermal mass, reducing dependence on conventional air-conditioning infrastructure while keeping maintenance access part of the design.
Restore
Circulation and heat-exchange design are intended to support dissolved oxygen, reduce harmful stratification, and create a restoration pathway that can be tested against baseline data.
Measure
Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, conductivity, and other water-quality indicators would be monitored before expansion. If the evidence does not support the next phase, the project should not take the next phase.
Node Zero moves through measurement, not slogans. The model is designed to make ecological claims reviewable through baseline studies, sensor data, institutional oversight, and staged pilot decisions.
Engineering + Digital Twin
Project readiness is being built before hardware enters the water.
Node Zero planning includes a 31-page, six-section engineering integration package covering structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, data-system, and governance concerns. It is a planning and readiness document, not a substitute for formal site access, permitting, or agency approval.
The infrastructure logic is modular: waterproof enclosures, staged deployment, retrieval protocols, circulation planning, power-routing concepts, monitoring arrays, remote management, and public reporting obligations are treated as connected parts of the same system.
Unreal Engine digital twin work is underway to visualize quarry geometry, compute placement, circulation decisions, and ecological monitoring before physical deployment.
- Engineering planningQuarry basin assessment, enclosure anchoring, submersion and retrieval protocols, thermodynamic cooling design, and maintenance access logic.
- Modular infrastructure logicStaged hardware modules designed to be inspected, serviced, removed, and expanded only after reviewable performance data.
- Digital twinUnreal Engine simulation used for partner presentations, spatial validation, water-flow visualization, and public communication.
- Monitoring/data systemsSensor array placement, baseline protocols, water-quality parameters, network routing, remote management, security architecture, data sovereignty, and reporting framework.
- Governance controlsOperational oversight, partner responsibilities, prohibited workload enforcement, continuity planning, and public accountability obligations.
Partnerships + Review Path
Node Zero depends on review, access, and institutional participation.
Active Conversations / Support In Progress
Murray State University + Hancock Biological Station
Conversations include Dr. Michael Flinn, Dr. Howard Whiteman, Dr. Laura Bennett, and Dr. Solomon Antony. A letter of institutional support is in progress, and a Fall 2026 capstone collaboration is being arranged. Murray State's Kentucky Lake research context is directly relevant to aquatic ecology, monitoring, and restoration review.
Required Approval / Access Pathway
Tennessee Valley Authority
TVA Land Management contact Anne W. Patrick is routing the inquiry through appropriate internal channels. Because Kentucky Lake sits inside TVA's managed water system, TVA review and an approved pathway are required before Node Zero can proceed.
Required Approval / Site Access
U.S. Forest Service / Land Between the Lakes
Andrew Mowrey is the primary Forest Service contact, with Shane Brady, Elizabeth Raikes, and Dorian Chambers also part of the engagement path. The project's location means USFS site access and review are required, and no approval is represented as finalized.
Application Filed / Awaiting Outcome
ERDC / WERX Program
An ERDC/WERX BAA application was filed on January 13, 2026. The Army Corps of Engineers research pathway is relevant because Node Zero is framed as a field-testable infrastructure experiment. The application is pending, with no outcome reported here.
Active Outreach / Research Pathway
University of Kentucky
Outreach is active with Jennifer Miles, Kim Carter, and Dr. Steven Price. The University of Kentucky represents a possible complementary research pathway in watershed hydrology, environmental work, and civil engineering.
Current Status
A staged path from planning to review to pilot design.
Node Zero is not presented as approved construction. It is an organized project pathway with documented planning, active institutional conversations, and next steps that depend on access, baseline study, and review.
Completed / Documented
- Stewardship Compute LLC formed and active.
- SAM.gov registration and UEI number obtained for federal entity readiness.
- Engineering planning underway and documented in a 31-page integration package.
- Digital twin work underway in Unreal Engine for spatial simulation and presentation.
- ERDC/WERX BAA application filed on January 13, 2026.
- Stewardship AI in early-access development as part of the broader ecological intelligence stack.
In Progress
- Institutional letters and support materials with Murray State and other research contacts.
- TVA and USFS access pathway conversations for required review and site access.
- University of Kentucky outreach for hydrology, environmental, and engineering expertise.
- EV code signing certificate procurement, with entity registration complete and certificate acquisition underway.
- Installer readiness for Stewardship AI and related software distribution.
Next
- Formal site access pathway with TVA and USFS.
- Baseline sensor study before hardware enters the quarry.
- Pilot design review with research and agency stakeholders.
- Refinement of monitoring, reporting, and expansion thresholds.
Accountability First