Amazon has signed three new agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects in the US including enabling the construction of several new small modular reactors (SMRs). An agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will enable the development of four advanced SMRs. The reactors will be constructed, owned and operated by Energy Northwest, and are expected to generate roughly 320 MWe for the first phase of the project, with the option to increase to 960 MWe. “These projects will help meet the forecasted energy needs of the Pacific Northwest beginning in the early 2030s,” Amazon noted.
Amazon has also invested in US-based X-energy, which will supply advanced SMRs for the Energy Northwest project. The investment includes manufacturing capacity to develop the SMR equipment to support more than 5 GW of new nuclear energy projects utilizing X-energy’s technology.
In Virginia, Amazon signed an agreement with utility company Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion’s existing North Anna NPP. This will supply at least 300 MWe to the Virginia region, where Dominion projects that power demands will increase by 85% over the next 15 years.
Amazon earlier signed an agreement to co-locate a data centre facility next to Talen Energy’s Susquehanna NPP in Pennsylvania. In March, Talen Energy Corporation sold its Cumulus data centre campus in Pennsylvania to Amazon subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS) for $650m. This included a long-term agreement to provide power from the 2,500 MWe adjacent Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, which currently supplies power to the data centre.
Amazon noted: “In addition to creating and preserving sources of carbon-free energy, our investments in nuclear energy projects are expected to provide an economic boost for the local communities in which they reside. Our agreement with Energy Northwest is expected to support up to 1,000 temporary construction jobs and as many as 100 or more permanent jobs once the SMR project is fully operational…. In Pennsylvania, we’re building a data centre campus as part of our investment in Talen Energy, and that project will create construction jobs and bring upgrades to local utility infrastructure. And our investment will also help preserve the 900 local jobs that are already there to keep the facility up and running.”
Announcing the agreement with Amazon, Energy Northwest said SMRs offer a promising solution to the need for sustainable energy through scalable and flexible energy output. Through the agreement, Amazon will fund the initial feasibility phase of an SMR project, which is planned to be sited near Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station nuclear energy facility in Richland, Washington.
Greg Cullen, Vice President for Energy Services & Development at Energy Northwest, noted: “We’ve been working for years to develop this project at the urging of our members, and have found that taking this first, bold step is difficult for utilities, especially those that provide electricity to ratepayers at the cost of production. We applaud Amazon for being willing to use their financial strength, need for power and know-how to lead the way to a reliable, carbon-free power future for the region.”
The SMRs will be Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. Each Xe-100 module can provide 80 MW of full-time electricity. The Xe-100 uses tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel.
Energy Northwest and X-energy have engaged extensively on plans for an Xe-100 facility since 2020. Under the agreement, Amazon will have the right to purchase electricity from the first project (four modules), which is expected to generate 320 megawatts (MW) of energy capacity. Energy Northwest has the option to further build out the site by adding up to eight additional modules (640 MW) resulting in a total project generating capacity of up to 960 MW. This additional power will be available to Amazon and northwest utilities to power homes and businesses.
X-Energy announced a Series C-1 financing round of approximately $500m, anchored by Amazon. The investment will help meet growing energy demands by funding the completion of X-energy’s reactor design and licensing as well as the first phase of its TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Additionally, the funding will support future carbon-free projects that will use X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced SMRs.
“Nuclear is an important source of clean and reliable power that our nation needs to meet the growing demand for energy,” said Ken Griffin, Founder & CEO of Citadel, whose Ares affiliate is one of the lead investors in this round along with NPG and the University of Michigan. “X-energy provides an impactful solution to a critical challenge – and the support Amazon, Dow, and other major corporations have provided underscores its potential and merit.”
X-energy is developing its initial Xe-100 plant at Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations manufacturing site on the Texas Gulf Coast, supported by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). The project aims to be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America. ARDP also supports X-energy’s TRISO fuel fabrication plant.
Robert Blue, Chairman and CEO of Dominion Energy, said the agreement with Amazon is “an important step forward in serving our customers’ growing needs with reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy”. The collaboration “gives us a potential path to advance SMRs with minimal rate impacts for our residential customers and substantially reduced development risk”.
In July, Dominion Energy announced a Request for Proposals from leading SMR nuclear technology companies to evaluate the feasibility of developing an SMR at the company’s North Anna plant – an important first step in evaluating the technology and the feasibility of developing it at North Anna.
