Amazon to fund 12 small nuclear reactors at former Indiana coal plant
News Source
β’Mon, 19 Oct 2026 16:55:56 +0000
π° What Happened
Amazon will fund a planned nuclear power plant in Indiana and be its first customer. The plant would produce 960 megawatts from 12 small reactors. It would sit on the site of a demolished coal plant south of Terre Haute.
Utility American Electric Power would run the plant. X-energy, which went public in April, would supply the reactors. The power would go into the public grid, and Amazon says it would also serve its data centres.
π The Backstory
This is the second deal between Amazon and X-energy, and three times larger than the first from two years ago. Amazon led a $700 million funding round for X-energy in October 2024. The two plan 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the US by 2039.
The schedule is tight. It depends on X-energy finishing its first plant at a Dow Chemical site near Houston. That project has not broken ground and faces a lawsuit from Texas over water and waste rules.
π― Why It Matters
AI data centres need huge amounts of steady power. Nuclear is one answer, but new plants take years and cost billions, so bills and timelines matter.
Amazon will fund a planned nuclear power plant in Indiana and be its first customer. The plant would produce 960 megawatts from 12 small reactors. It would sit on the site of a demolished coal plant south of Terre Haute.
Utility American Electric Power would run the plant. X-energy, which went public in April, would supply the reactors. The power would go into the public grid, and Amazon says it would also serve its data centres.
This is the second deal between Amazon and X-energy, and three times larger than the first from two years ago. Amazon led a $700 million funding round for X-energy in October 2024. The two plan 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the US by 2039.
The schedule is tight. It depends on X-energy finishing its first plant at a Dow Chemical site near Houston. That project has not broken ground and faces a lawsuit from Texas over water and waste rules.
AI data centres need huge amounts of steady power. Nuclear is one answer, but new plants take years and cost billions, so bills and timelines matter.