Amazon is making a major investment in nuclear power, backing three projects in Virginia and Washington state to support its operations, data centers, and the national grid, which faces strain from unprecedented demand.
The tech giant announced the historic deal on Wednesday. It is just the latest in several high-profile efforts by major tech firms to invest in nuclear power, which Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman called key to Amazon’s net-carbon emissions goals.
“One of the fastest ways to address climate change is by transitioning our society to carbon-free energy sources, and nuclear energy is both carbon-free and able to scale — which is why it’s an important area of investment for Amazon,” Garman said. “Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies that will generate energy for decades to come.”
In Washington, Amazon is entering an agreement with utilities company Energy Northwest to develop four small modular reactors. These SMRs will be built, owned, and operated by the utility group and generate a capacity of around 320 megawatts in the first phase. Amazon said the SMRs will have the ability to increase their capacity to around 960 megawatts, enough power to support over 770,000 homes.
The power will be directly supplied to the grid in the Pacific Northwest starting in the early 2030s, Amazon said. For this project, Amazon is also investing in SMR developer X-energy, which will supply Energy Northwest with its advanced nuclear reactor design.
In Virginia, Amazon is partnering with utility company Dominion Energy to develop an SMR near the North Anna Nuclear power station in Louisa County.
This reactor is expected to have a capacity of 300 megawatts, with the power also being supplied directly to the local grid. This will go on to support energy demands from large facilities such as artificial intelligence data centers, as well as local businesses and homes. Garman told CNBC that “everything that is plugged into the grid will benefit.”
Across all three nuclear power projects, Amazon is investing more than $500 million, according to CNBC.
Compared to larger nuclear facilities, SMRs are known to have a smaller physical footprint, which allows the reactors to be built closer to local grids. SMRs also historically take less time to build, allowing the facilities to come online and supply energy sooner. At the moment, there are no SMRs operational in the United States, and only three are operational in the world.
Virginia, particularly Loudoun County in the northern part of the state, is widely considered the data center hub of the U.S. Dominion Energy reportedly sees over 450 data centers in the state demanding around 3,500 megawatts of power. One megawatt is considered to be roughly the same amount of energy consumed by 400 to 900 homes in one year.
That demand is only expected to grow, with Dominion projecting an increase of 85% over the next 15 years. Nationally, data centers are expected to drain the national grid by more than twofold, with the facilities estimated to use upward of 9% of electricity generated.
With the AI race in full swing and tech giants like Amazon and Google looking to get ahead, many companies have looked to nuclear as a way to support their AI developments while meeting net-zero carbon targets.
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Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would be co-locating a data center with Talen Energy’s Susquehanna nuclear plant, which is expected to provide up to 960 megawatts of power. In September, Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a deal to restart the Three Mile Island plant, the site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, to support Microsoft’s AI advancements.
Google also unveiled a historic deal on Monday with Kairos Power, the first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple SMRs. Google plans to purchase energy from SMRs made by Kairos Power, with the first reactor coming online by 2030. The entire fleet is expected to supply around 500 megawatts of power.