A Demanding Bet on SMRs: Amazon Enlists Nuclear Energy

Amazon has announced plans to develop new Small Modular Reactor (SMR) projects.

The tech giant has entered into nuclear energy agreements with utility companies Energy Northwest and Dominion Energy, in addition to nuclear reactor X-energy, to invest in nuclear energy. These agreements are designed to help support their data centre facilities and the local communities around them, in addition to combating rising emissions moving forward.

Amazon has been making moves on its journey to net zero, recently announcing it would be matching all electricity consumed by its global operations with 100% renewable energy. This was seven years ahead of its 2030 goal.

The news comes at a similar time to Google announcing its partnership with Kairos Power to use nuclear energy to power its AI data centres.

A new way to confront rising data centre emissions

As the energy needs of its business continue to evolve - particularly as technologies like AI become more dominant - Amazon is committed to investing further into renewables, whilst also finding additional sources of carbon-free energy.

Amazon has announced three new agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects, including construction of several new SMRs. 

The organisation requires additional help to power its operations and bring new sources of energy to the grid. It has touted nuclear power as part of that solution, suggesting it can be brought online at scale and has a decades-long track record of providing a reliable source of safe carbon-free energy for communities worldwide.

Despite long-term public concerns over nuclear waste, nuclear energy is able to protect air quality by producing large amounts of carbon-free electricity.

SMRs: Meeting data demands

SMRs are an advanced type of nuclear reactor with a smaller physical footprint, which allows them to be built closer to the grid. According to Amazon, SMRs also have faster build times than traditional reactors, which means they can come online sooner.

They can be used within the data centre sector as a more sustainable solution to meet additional demand and generate sufficient energy needed to meet data centre power requirements. 

Collaborating with Energy Northwest will enable the development of four advanced SMRs, which are expected to generate around 320 megawatts (MW) of capacity for the first phase of the project. These projects will help Amazon meet forecasted energy needs within the Pacific Northwest in the early 2030s, the company says.

The company is also making an investment in X-energy, a leading developer of SMR reactors and fuel. Its advanced nuclear reactor design will be used in the Energy Northwest project, including investment into developing SMR equipment to support more than five gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear energy projects. 

Likewise in Virginia, Amazon has signed an agreement with Dominion Energy to explore developing an SMR project near Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear power station. This is designed to offer at least 300 megawatts (MW) of power to the region, where it is anticipated that power demands will increase by 85% over the next 15 years.

“Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040,” comments Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

Benetting the wider data centre industry

These new agreements from Amazon have taken place amid growing trends among tech giants to address increasing energy demands. Disruptive technologies like AI and cloud computing demand huge amounts of power to run, which puts an inevitable strain on a data centre’s carbon emissions.

Earlier in 2024, Amazon’s report, Moving onto The AWS Cloud Reduces Carbon Emissions, suggests that AWS infrastructure is up to 4.1 times more efficient than on-prem. When workloads are optimised on AWS, the carbon footprint can be lowered by 99%.

Across its data centres, AWS is optimising its resources to minimise low capacity and improve the efficiency of its infrastructure.

In addition to creating and preserving sources of carbon-free energy, Amazon’s investments in nuclear energy projects are expected to provide an economic boost for the local communities in which they reside. Its agreement with Energy Northwest is expected to support up to 1,000 temporary construction jobs and as many as 100+ permanent jobs once the SMR project is fully operational. Its investment in Talen Energy will also help preserve the 900 local jobs that are already there to keep the facility up and running, according to Talen Energy.

“One of the fastest ways to address climate change is by transitioning our society to carbon-free energy sources, and nuclear energy is both carbon-free and able to scale—which is why it’s an important area of investment for Amazon,” Matt Garman adds.

“Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies that will generate energy for decades to come.”

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