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On Wednesday, Amazon announced it had signed new agreements enabling the development of several small modular reactors — which have a smaller footprint and shorter build times than traditional reactors — to power its data centers.
Energy Northwest, a consortium of public utilities, will construct, own, and operate four reactors across Washington. Amazon is also investing $500 million in X-Energy — a developer of small nuclear reactors and fuel. X-Energy’s designs will be used in the Energy Northwest project, the company said.
Amazon is also partnering with utility company Dominion Energy to “explore the development” of a small modular reactor project near the North Anna nuclear power station in Virginia.
Amazon executives said nuclear power offers the cleanest energy to meet the demands of its large data centers.
“One of the fastest ways to address climate change is by transitioning our society to carbon-free energy sources, and nuclear energy is both carbon-free and able to scale—which is why it’s an important area of investment for Amazon,” Matt Garman, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, said in a press release.
In March, the company also purchased a nuclear-powered data center from Talen Energy.