Amazon to fund 12 small modular reactors at an Indiana coal site
The 960-megawatt project with X-energy and utility AEP will replace a retired coal plant to feed Amazon's cloud infrastructure, though commercial operation remains years away.
Amazon announced plans to finance a 960-megawatt nuclear power plant south of Terre Haute, Indiana, placing 12 Xe-100 small modular reactors directly onto the footprint of a decommissioned coal station.
Utility provider American Electric Power (AEP) will operate the plant, while reactor developer X-energy supplies the hardware. Under the agreement, Amazon acts as the anchor off-taker: while the facility connects to the public grid, designated capacity will be routed directly to support the company's expanding data centers.
The move represents the second commercial partnership between Amazon and X-energy. Amazon previously led a $700 million Series C-1 funding round for the nuclear firm, with both targeting 5 gigawatts of commissioned capacity by 2039.
Repurposing fossil-fuel sites solves one of energy deployment's hardest bottlenecks by reusing preexisting high-voltage grid connections and water permits. However, small modular designs still face rigorous licensing reviews and unproven commercial assembly pipelines before delivering actual baseload power.
Comments
Help shape the next version: Add context or suggest a correction. AI review can add points toward a rewrite. Reviews and updates may take time; a full meter does not guarantee a new version.