Amazon Invests in New Nuclear Power Plant in Indiana

Amazon has teamed up with X-energy and American Electric Power (AEP) to support the construction of a new nuclear energy facility in Indiana. This proposed plant is set to replace the now-closed coal-powered Breed Generating Station in Fairbanks, Sullivan County, and aims to deliver up to 960 megawatts of carbon-free energy for the regional power grid and Amazon’s data centers.

While no specific timeline for construction or operation has been revealed, Amazon suggests that the project could generate around 1,000 construction jobs and 100 permanent positions. The Indiana facility plans to install 12 Xe-100 small modular reactors (SMRs), which are advanced reactors still in the development and licensing phase. These reactors can be cooled using air, water, or a hybrid of both, allowing for deployment in areas with limited water resources without straining local supplies.

Interestingly, Indiana is also known for the unfinished Marble Hill Nuclear Power Plant, a project that was abandoned in 1983 after $2.5 billion was invested and has been undergoing demolition since 2008. The financial details of Amazon’s agreement in Fairbanks remain undisclosed, making it difficult to compare costs with the Marble Hill project.

This initiative marks the second nuclear energy venture for Amazon and X-energy, who aim to collaborate with regional utilities to establish over 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the U.S. by 2039. Last October, Amazon provided a glimpse of its first planned nuclear facility, the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in Washington, which also intends to build 12 advanced reactors and create local employment, although construction is not expected to commence until the end of the decade.

Amazon is among several tech giants, including Meta, Microsoft, and Google, exploring their own nuclear energy projects to power AI data centers. Investing in energy grid infrastructure was highlighted in a recent blog post by Amazon, which aimed to address some of the growing concerns surrounding data center projects, though it will take years before the benefits of these new facilities are realized.