- Amazon Invests in X-energy to support advanced small modular reactors
- Amazon commits to support initial 320-megawatt project with Energy Northwest in central Washington
- Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin, affiliates of Ares Management Corporation, NGP, and the University of Michigan, invest approximately $500 million in Series C-1 financing round for X-energy
- Amazon, X-energy aim to bring more than 5 GW online in the United States by 2039, the largest commercial deployment target of SMRs to date
- Investment solidifies X-energy’s leading role in commercializing SMR technology to revolutionize the nuclear industry
(WNN contributed to this report) X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC announced a Series C-1 financing round of approximately $500 million, anchored by Amazon.com, Inc. Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin, affiliates of Ares Management Corporation (Ares), NGP, and the University of Michigan join Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund in the financing round.
The investment will help meet growing energy demands by funding the completion of X-energy’s reactor design and licensing as well as the first phase of its TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Additionally, the funding will support future carbon-free projects that will use X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).
In Washington, Amazon’s agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will enable the development of four advanced SMRs. The reactors will be constructed, owned and operated by Energy Northwest, and are expected to generate 320 MW of capacity for the first phase of the project, with the option to increase to 960 MW total.
At 200 MWt of 565°C steam, the Xe-100 is also suitable for other power applications including mining and heavy industry. The Xe-100 uses tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel, which has additional safety benefits because it can withstand very high temperatures without melting.
X-energy says its design makes it road-shippable with accelerated construction timelines and more predictable and manageable construction costs, and is well suited to meet the requirements of energy-intensive data centers.
X-energy and Amazon plan to establish and standardize a deployment and financing model to develop projects in partnership with infrastructure and utility partners. The investment includes manufacturing capacity to develop the SMR equipment to support more than five gigawatts of new nuclear energy projects utilizing X-energy’s technology.
The efforts will help meet growing energy demands in key locations through direct project investments and long-term power purchase agreements to help power Amazon operations.
Major IT Platforms Shift Gears on Financing SMRs for Data Centers
The new announcement by Amazon today and the one earlier this week by Google represent a 180 degree change in direction for two of the biggest IT platforms on the planet. Last June Google and Microsoft told the American Nuclear Society neither firm would invest directly in new SMRs for data centers.
However, necessity is the mother of invention and both Google and Amazon have reversed themselves based on the cascading demands for power that will be needed for hyperscale data centers. Last month Microsoft announced it had signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation which would see Three Mile Island unit 1 restarted, five years after it was shut down.
In a comment posted on Linkedin, Mark Nelson, Managing Partner at Radiant Energy Group, said the decisions by Amazon and Google to directly invest in SMRs “makes it clear that the shear desperate need for 24/7 power (ideally clean) has forced many hands.”
Other Amazon and X-Energy SMR Developments
Dominion SMR Project Folded into Amazon’s Plans
Separately, In Virginia, Amazon signed an agreement with utility company Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear power station. This will bring at least 300 MW of power to the Virginia region, where Dominion projects that power demands will increase by 85% over the next 15 years. The reactor vendor for that project was not named by Amazon.
In July, Dominion Energy announced a Request for Proposals from leading SMR nuclear technology companies to evaluate the feasibility of developing an SMR at the company’s North Anna plant – while it is not a commitment to build an SMR, it is an important first step in evaluating the technology and the feasibility of developing it at North Anna.
Dow Chemical Plant in Texas
In addition to the deal with Amazon, X-energy is developing its initial Xe-100 plant at Dow Inc.’s UCC Seadrift Operations manufacturing site on the Texas Gulf Coast. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (“ARDP”), the project will be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America, providing the site with zero-carbon emissions power and high-temperature steam. ARDP also supports X-energy’s first-in-the-nation commercial facility to exclusively manufacture TRISO fuel, which DOE calls “the most robust nuclear fuel on Earth.”
Separately, Amazon previously signed an agreement to co-locate a data center facility next to the Talen Energy’s nuclear facility in Pennsylvania.
# # #
