Amazon is funding a new nuclear plant in Indiana

What happened

Amazon signed an agreement with X-energy and American Electric Power (AEP). Together they plan to build a nuclear plant on the site of an old coal plant called the Breed Generating Station, in Fairbanks, Indiana. The plant would use small modular reactors, a newer kind of nuclear reactor that is still being developed and approved.

Key facts

• The plant aims to provide up to 960 megawatts of carbon-free power.
• Amazon says it could create 1,000 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs.
• The plant plans to use 12 Xe-100 small modular reactors.
• No start date for building or running the plant has been announced.
• The deal's price has not been shared.

Some useful background

Indiana already has a famous unfinished nuclear project, the Marble Hill plant. It was abandoned in 1983 after $2.5 billion had been spent. Amazon and X-energy are also working together on a plant in Washington state, called Cascade, which is not expected to start construction until the end of this decade. Their shared goal is to add more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear power in the US by 2039.

Why it matters

AI data centers use huge amounts of electricity. Tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft, and Google are also looking at nuclear power to meet that need. Amazon says the new reactors could be cooled with air or water, so they would not add to water use in towns that have little water. Still, the plant will take many years to build, so people will not get its benefits for a long time.

What to watch

• A construction start date and timeline for the Indiana plant.
• Whether the new reactor design is approved by safety regulators.
• The price and terms of Amazon's deal, which have not been disclosed.
• Progress on the Cascade plant in Washington state.