Amazon is investing in nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative to meet its massive demand for energy for its AI and Cloud services. The tech giant, which signed agreements to build nuclear energy projects in the past year, revealed plans of a upcoming small modular (SMR) reactor in Richland Washington. Amazon is working with Energy Northwest (Washington’s utilities agency) and X-energy (an SMR developer) to build the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility.
Although the SMR will have a smaller footprint than a traditional nuclear reactor, it will still be able to produce up to 960 Megawatts. Amazon plans to develop four SMRs as part of the Cascade facility’s first phase, which will have an initial power output of 320 Megawatts. The facility can expand to 12 units to achieve the maximum energy output. Amazon says that construction will begin before the end decade and operations should start in the 2030s.
Amazon’s not the only major tech company that is relying on nuclear energy to power their AI operations. Google partnered with a nuclear company called Kairos Power in October last year to build seven SMRs throughout the US. A month later Meta also wanted to build a nuclear-powered AI data center, but was reportedly slowed down by the discovery of a rare species of bee.
