Amazon eyes nuclear future for data centers with X-energy partnership
Amazon is moving forward with plans to power its data centers using small modular reactors (SMRs) developed by U.S. startup X-Energy, though the project remains years away from completion, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The company announced that the planned Cascade Nuclear Energy Center, to be built near Richland, Washington, could eventually supply up to 960 megawatts of clean energy. The facility will be developed in three stages, with each phase adding roughly 320 megawatts of generation capacity.
The SMRs, known as Xe-100 units, are designed to be smaller, faster to construct and more cost-efficient than conventional nuclear power plants. However, X-Energy’s technology has yet to receive approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which must authorize reactor construction. Amazon expects regulatory clearance by the end of 2026, with operations projected to begin in the early-to-mid 2030s.
Amazon invested about $500 million in X-Energy last year, joining a growing list of technology companies turning to nuclear power as a stable energy source for expanding data infrastructure. The company also plans to deploy up to 5 gigawatts of X-Energy SMRs across the United States by 2039, working with South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power on the initiative.
Other tech giants are moving in a similar direction. Oracle plans to use multiple SMRs to power future data centers, while Google-backed Kairos Power is developing a 50-megawatt molten-salt reactor in Tennessee, expected to come online after 2030.
In the meantime, cloud providers are relying on existing nuclear capacity. Amazon recently purchased atomic-powered data centers from Cumulus Data near the 2.5-gigawatt Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in a deal worth $650 million. Microsoft, for its part, is helping to restart the Three Mile Island Unit-1 reactor, scheduled to resume operations in 2027.
If successful, these projects could mark a broader shift toward nuclear energy as a key resource supporting the cloud industry’s rapid expansion, while maintaining commitments to carbon neutrality.
Earlier, it was reported that Amazon had warned of corporate job cuts as AI reshapes the workforce.
