Amazon reveals what one of the US’ first modular nuclear reactors will look like

To meet its massive energy demand for its AI and cloud services, Amazon is investing in nuclear power as a cleaner option. After signing agreements to help build nuclear energy projects last year, the tech giant revealed plans for an upcoming small modular reactor, or SMR, in Richland, Washington. Amazon is working with Energy Northwest, Washington state’s utilities agency, and X-energy, an SMR developer, to build the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility.

The SMR has a smaller footprint than traditional nuclear reactors, but will still offer a modular design that can pump out up to 960 megawatts of power. Amazon is planning to help develop four SMRs in the first phase of the Cascade facility that will provide an initial power capacity of 320 megawatts. After that, the facility has the option to expand to 12 units for the maximum energy output. According to Amazon, construction on the project will start sometime before the end of the decade, while operations are expected to start in the 2030s.

Amazon isn’t the only big tech company to lean into nuclear energy to power its AI operations. In October of last year, Google partnered with a nuclear energy company called Kairos Power to construct seven SMRs across the US. A month later, Meta was also looking to build an AI data center powered by nuclear energy, but reportedly ran into a discovery of a rare bee species that held up plans.