Amazon to fund 12 small nuclear reactors in Indiana
Amazon partners with X-energy and AEP to fund a 960-megawatt nuclear plant in Indiana using 12 small modular reactors.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Amazon is funding a proposed 960-megawatt nuclear plant in Indiana
- The project utilizes 12 Xe-100 small modular reactors supplied by X-energy
- Power will connect to the public grid and supply Amazon's data centers
- American Electric Power (AEP) will operate the newly planned facility
Amazon has announced a major investment to fund the development of a 960-megawatt nuclear power plant in Indiana, becoming the primary customer to purchase its generated power. The companies revealed the agreement on Monday, detailing that utility company American Electric Power (AEP) will operate the facility, while X-energy, a developer of small modular nuclear reactors that went public in April, will supply the reactors.
The new power plant will consist of 12 Xe-100 small modular reactors and will be constructed on the site of a demolished coal power plant situated just south of Terre Haute. This agreement marks the second commercial contract between Amazon and X-energy, boasting a scale three times larger than their initial deal announced two years prior.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Amazon has previously poured heavy investments into X-energy, leading a $700 million Series C-1 funding round in October 2024. Both companies have stated their ultimate ambition to build 5 gigawatts of new nuclear generating capacity across the United States by 2039. Unlike many newly unveiled power plants, these reactors will connect directly to the public electric grid, though Amazon notes that the electricity will also serve its expanding data centers.
However, the companies' aggressive timeline still hinges on X-energy successfully delivering its inaugural power plant at a Dow Chemical site southeast of Houston, Texas. That location, known as Seadrift, has recently found itself at the center of a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas, accusing the plant of habitual non-compliance regarding water and solid-waste permits and regulations. X-energy has yet to break ground at Seadrift, where four Xe-100 reactors are intended to supply heat and electricity to the chemical facility. The company stated that its construction permit remains in the final review phases with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The strategic push by tech giants like Amazon into small modular reactors (SMRs) highlights the skyrocketing energy demands required to power data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure. SMR technology aims to bypass the massive budget overruns and prolonged construction schedules that historically plagued traditional large-scale nuclear projects. Nonetheless, regulatory approvals, legal hurdles, and scaling mass manufacturing remain significant obstacles that the industry must navigate before achieving widespread economic viability.
Startups and major cloud computing firms are banking on SMRs to pull the nuclear sector out of its prolonged slump. Recent nuclear plants built in the U.S. suffered from egregious budget overruns and delayed timelines. By scaling down the reactors, companies like X-energy hope mass manufacturing will keep costs and schedules manageable, though experts caution that mass production typically takes about a decade to yield noticeable benefits.
X-energy debuted on the Nasdaq in April with an IPO priced at $23 per share. Investor enthusiasm initially drove the price up 27% on its first trading day, but shares of the newly public company have since dropped by nearly two-thirds. News of the Amazon agreement pushed X-energy's shares up roughly 10% in pre-market trading, though they traded down by less than 2% by the time of publication.
Source: TechCrunch
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