Amazon is backing plans for a 960-megawatt nuclear power facility in Indiana that could house 12 small modular reactors (SMRs) at the site of a former coal-fired power plant.
The company has signed an agreement with American Electric Power (AEP) and nuclear technology developer X-energy to assess the feasibility of the project. If built, the facility would supply electricity to the regional grid and Amazon’s data centers.
The proposed plant would use 12 of X-energy’s Xe-100 reactors, each designed to generate 80 MW of electricity. Amazon will help fund project development and plans to become the facility’s first electricity customer once it begins operating.
The agreement comes as electricity demand rises across the United States, driven partly by expanding data centers, manufacturing and electrification. However, the project remains in the evaluation stage, with no confirmed construction schedule or operational date.
Replacing coal with nuclear
The companies are considering the former Breed Generating Station site in Sullivan County, Indiana. The coal-fired facility’s location could allow the developers to reuse an existing power generation site rather than establish an entirely new one.
The proposed nuclear plant would add up to 960 MW of electricity generation capacity in AEP’s Indiana service territory. According to Amazon, construction could create more than 1,000 jobs, while the completed facility could support over 100 permanent positions.
X-energy’s Xe-100 is a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor that uses helium instead of water to remove heat from its core. Each reactor is designed to generate 80 MW of electricity, allowing multiple units to be combined to meet larger power requirements.
The design uses TRISO fuel, which contains uranium particles surrounded by several protective layers, including high-temperature ceramic materials. These layers are designed to retain radioactive materials even under extreme operating conditions.
According to X-energy, the combination of helium cooling and TRISO fuel provides inherent safety characteristics intended to prevent core melting without relying on active cooling equipment or operator intervention.
The reactor design also supports different cooling arrangements, including air-cooled, water-cooled, and hybrid systems. This could give operators more flexibility when selecting sites where water availability is limited.
Amazon expands nuclear ambitions
The Indiana proposal is the second project announced under Amazon and X-energy’s broader collaboration, which targets more than 5 gigawatts of new U.S. nuclear capacity by 2039.
Their first project, the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in Washington state, also aims to deploy X-energy’s reactor technology.
Amazon’s involvement with X-energy dates to 2024, when it led a financing round that ultimately raised $700 million. The investment was intended to support reactor design, licensing, and development of a nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Under the Indiana agreement, AEP would bring its electricity generation and utility experience, while Amazon would provide development funding and future electricity demand.
The companies have not announced a final investment decision. Construction would depend on the outcome of feasibility assessments and subsequent project approvals.