Amazon, AEP and X-energy Eye 960MW Nuclear Plant

American Electric Power (AEP), reactor developer X-energy and Amazon have agreed to explore building a 960-megawatt advanced nuclear plant on the site of a retired coal-fired station in Sullivan County, Indiana, with Amazon set to fund development and buy the electricity, trade publication Utility Dive reported on Monday.

The proposal centres on 12 of X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactors, each rated at 80MW. According to POWER Magazine, the units would be arranged in three blocks of four, giving 320MW per block. The plant would sit at or near the former Breed Generating Station, a coal plant once run by AEP subsidiary Indiana Michigan Power.

Under the joint development agreement announced on 19 October, Amazon will provide development funding, which X-energy said would be tied to milestones, and intends to buy the plant’s output under a long-term contract. AEP said that contract would cover the cost of the facility and its operations for its full duration, shielding the utility’s existing customers from the financial risk that has long dogged new nuclear builds.

Nuclear Plant

AEP chairman, president and chief executive Bill Fehrman said the deals offer the company ‘all necessary capital protections and financial safeguards’ it has insisted on before backing any nuclear project. He added that the plan would help the utility meet surging demand with reliable baseload power while keeping bills affordable for current customers.

Josh Weissman, Amazon’s vice-president of data centre infrastructure capacity delivery, said the aim was to add nearly a gigawatt of carbon-free power to the regional grid and ‘pay our full costs without passing them to others’. Amazon tied the project to its participation in the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge and to its goal of reaching net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun said the project could strengthen the state’s grid and position Indiana as a national leader in advanced nuclear energy. Sullivan County takes part in the state’s Advanced Nuclear Ready Communities Program, run by the Indiana Office of Energy Development, which recognises localities that have taken concrete steps to welcome new reactors.

Big Tech’s nuclear push

The Indiana plan is Amazon’s second nuclear deal in as many weeks. On 30 September, the company signed a 20-year, 690MW power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy tied to expanding and upgrading the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland, Utility Dive noted.

Amazon’s ties to X-energy date back to 2024, when its Climate Pledge Fund led the reactor developer’s Series C-1 round, which ultimately closed at US$700 million. The two companies are working to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new US nuclear capacity online by 2039. Indiana would be the second deployment under that partnership, after Energy Northwest’s planned Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in Washington state, and X-energy’s third announced commercial Xe-100 project in the US, alongside a four-reactor plant planned at Dow’s Seadrift complex in Texas.

Electricity demand from data centres is reshaping utility planning in the state. Indiana Michigan Power expects its peak load in Indiana to rise to more than 7,000MW by 2030, up from 2,800MW. The deal also follows a busy stretch for AEP, which last week unveiled a roughly US$4 billion, 702MW Bloom Energy fuel cell development in Wyoming to serve Google.

What’s next

The project remains at the feasibility stage. The companies have not disclosed a cost estimate, contract price, construction timetable or a licensing route with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Construction would go ahead only after a final investment decision. If built, POWER Magazine said, the plant could run for more than 60 years.

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