Summary
Amazon, X-energy and AEP have agreed to explore a 12-reactor project in Indiana, targeting 960 MW of carbon-free electricity for the regional grid and Amazon data centres. The agreement is for project development, not a start-of-construction announcement.
Amazon, X-energy and American Electric Power (AEP) have signed an agreement to explore a nuclear power project in Indiana. The companies are targeting 12 of X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactors, with a combined planned capacity of 960 megawatts (MW). The proposed plant would supply both the regional grid and Amazon’s data centres.
Amazon says it will fund project development and would be the plant’s first customer, purchasing power once it is operational. The agreement is to explore deployment; it does not announce that construction has begun.
How the proposed reactors would work
Each Xe-100 is an 80 MW high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor. It uses helium as a coolant and TRISO fuel: uranium encased in layers of high-temperature ceramic. The 12-reactor plan therefore adds up to the project’s stated 960 MW target.
Amazon says plants using the design could use air-cooled condensers, water cooling or a hybrid system, depending on site conditions. That flexibility could help adapt cooling to local water resources, although the announcement does not specify which approach would be selected for Indiana.
The project reflects a growing need for electricity from data centres and other users. Amazon cites electrification, manufacturing and AI expansion as drivers of demand, and says it is pursuing nuclear power as a source of carbon-free electricity that can operate around the clock. The proposed output would serve the wider grid as well as the company’s own facilities.
Indiana site and wider plans
The proposed plant would be developed at the former site of the coal-fuelled Breed Generating Station in Sullivan County, within AEP’s Indiana service territory. Amazon says the project could create more than 1,000 construction jobs and more than 100 permanent roles.
AEP and its Indiana Michigan Power utility would bring experience operating nuclear power plants, according to Amazon. The announcement does not identify a construction or operating timetable for the Indiana project.
This is the second project under Amazon and X-energy’s collaboration, which aims to add more than 5 gigawatts of nuclear capacity to the U.S. grid by 2039. The first is the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in Washington state. The Indiana proposal would add a further potential source of electricity to the regional system while giving Amazon a direct role as project funder and intended power buyer.