Amazon is funding a new nuclear plant in Indiana

Amazon has inked a deal with X-energy and American Electric Power (AEP) to construct a new nuclear plant in Indiana. The proposed facility aims to generate 960 megawatts of carbon-free energy for both the regional power grid and Amazon's data centers. Currently, the plant's construction and operational timeline remains undisclosed. Amazon anticipates the project could generate around 1,000 construction jobs and 100 permanent positions.

The proposed nuclear plant would replace the decommissioned coal-powered Breed Generating Station in Fairbanks, Sullivan County. The facility is set to build 12 Xe-100 SMR reactors, an advanced (yet unproven) reactor that is still in development and awaiting licensing. These reactors can be cooled using air, water, or a combination of both, which Amazon claims could enable their deployment in water-restricted areas without harming local communities' water demand.

Notably, Indiana hosts the unfinished Marble Hill Nuclear Power Plant, which ceased operations in 1983 after $2.5 billion had already been invested. The plant has been under demolition since 2008. The details of Amazon's agreement terms for the Fairbanks project are still undisclosed, making a direct comparison with the Marble Hill project impossible.

This marks Amazon's second nuclear energy partnership, with the collective aim of deploying over 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the US by 2039. In October of the previous year, Amazon unveiled plans for its first nuclear plant, the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in Washington, which also plans to install 12 advanced reactors and create local jobs. However, construction for this project is not anticipated to begin until the end of this decade.

Amazon joins a growing list of tech companies, such as Meta, Microsoft, and Google, that are exploring nuclear energy projects to power their AI data centers. The tech giant's commitment to investing in energy grid infrastructure was also mentioned in a recent blog post aimed at countering the negative perceptions surrounding data center projects. It will, however, take several years before Amazon and other companies can reap the benefits of these new nuclear facilities.