Amazon goes Google: Nuclear brakes lifted to power data centers with fusion energy

E-commerce giant Amazon has announced its decision to support small modular reactors (SMRs) startup X-energy in the United States to bring over 5GW of projects online.

The company has signed three new agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects in the US to power its data centers.

Amazon recently announced that it had matched all its global electricity consumption with 100 percent renewable energy. This landmark came ahead of its 2030 timeline.

However, as the need for energy continues to grow the company is looking to find more sources of carbon-free energy, and it seems they have chosen the nuclear route.

This announcement comes just days after tech giant Google had signed a nuclear energy deal with Kairos Power.

Amazon to help develop new sources of nuclear energy

“Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040,” said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Garman further said that nuclear energy is carbon-free and scalable, making it an ideal investment for Amazon.

He added, “Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies that will generate energy for decades to come.”

According to a press release by the company , in Washington, it has entered into an agreement with Energy Northwest—a consortium of state public utilities—to enable the development of four advanced SMRs .

The SMRs will be constructed, owned, and operated by Energy Northwest and are expected to generate roughly 320 megawatts (MW) of capacity for the first phase of the project, “with the option to increase to 960 MW total—enough to power the equivalent of more than 770,000 U.S. homes.”

These projects will help meet the forecasted energy needs of the Pacific Northwest beginning in the early 2030s.

X-energy and Virginia agreements

The investment in X-energy by Amazon has also been announced. The Energy Northwest project will use X-energy’s advanced nuclear reactor design.

The total investment includes manufacturing capacity to develop the SMR equipment to support more than five gigawatts of new nuclear energy projects utilizing X-energy’s technology.

Moreover, in Virginia, the company has signed an agreement with utility company Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear power station. This will bring at least 300 megawatts of power to the Virginia region.

Xe-100 SMRs

X-energy offers Xe-100 – an 80 MWe reactor that can be scaled into a ‘four-pack’ 320 MWe power plant. This can be scaled to grow as large as needed.

Moreover, its simple design maximizes the use of off-the-shelf components manufactured and shipped to the site using existing roads and rail.

The company’s reactors are based on HTGR technology – Generation-IV reactor technology.

It uses TRISO particle fuel and is designed for 60 years of operational life, as per X-energy.

The company’s reactors exclusively use the tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel, which has been developed and improved over 60 years.