Amazon announces three new agreements to support development of nuclear energy

In a blog post, Amazon (AMZN) said “we’re announcing that we’ve signed three new agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects – including enabling the construction of several new Small Modular Reactors – or SMRs. SMRs are an advanced kind of nuclear reactor with a smaller physical footprint, allowing them to be built closer to the grid. They also have faster build times than traditional reactors, allowing them to come online sooner… In Washington, our 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 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. We’re also making an investment in X-energy, a leading developer of next-generation SMR reactors and fuel, and X-energy’s advanced nuclear reactor design will be used in the Energy Northwest project. The 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. In Virginia, we’ve 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, where Dominion projects that power demands will increase by 85% over the next 15 years. We also previously signed an agreement to co-locate a data center facility next to the Talen Energy’s nuclear facility in Pennsylvania, which will directly power our data centers with carbon-free energy, and helps preserve this existing reactor.”