Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Technology

What Makes Amazon’s Big Nuclear Deal Different

The company is placing a huge bet on small modular reactors.

The Amazon logo in an atom.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

First it was Microsoft and Constellation restarting Three Mile Island, then it was Google announcing it would buy power from small modular reactors built by Kairos. Now today, Amazon has said it’s investing in X-energy, the small modular reactor and fuel company, and supporting a joint project by X-energy and Energy Northwest, the Washington state public utility.

So what makes this deal different from all other nuclear tech deals?

“What makes this significantly different is the investment,” Brett Rampal, a senior director at Veriten, an energy advisory company, told me. Amazon is not just buying the power that a nuclear reactor will produce after it’s completed. It’s getting involved in the projects themselves.

This has not typically been how big tech companies with commitments to reduce emissions and rapidly expanding energy needs to power more data centers get involved with nuclear power.

The Microsoft/Constellation deal to restart Three Mile Island did not entail Microsoft taking on the financial and logistical burden of upgrading the plant so that it could be up and running again in a few years — for that, Constellation will be putting $1.6 billion of its own money into the plant. Instead, Microsoft signed a 20-year deal for the plant’s output, known as a power purchase agreement, which guarantees a price for the plant’s product. These types of deals were pioneered by Google to support renewables projects by giving them a guaranteed income independent of how electricity prices might fluctuate in whatever market they were selling into.

Amazon’s deal, on the other hand, is a “direct investment in the Energy Northwest project,” an X-energy spokesperson told me. According to an Amazon spokesperson, that means a “capital commitment to fund development, licensing and construction of an SMR project with Energy Northwest in Washington State,” a spokesperson told me. The project would be sited near the existing Columbia Generating Station in Richland.

“This is Amazon saying, We’re in, and we need this, and we’re putting skin in the game directly,” Rampal said. By contrast, other nuclear deals like Microsoft’s and Google’s “send demand signals and are, Hey, we’ll be there when you’re done.”

Energy Northwest and X-energy signed a joint development agreement for the project last year. If all goes as planned, the finished facility could be as large as 960 megawatts from 12 X-energy 80-megawatt “modules.” Amazon could buy the electricity from up to four of the modules, totaling 320 megawatts. Amazon said that the project “will help meet the forecasted energy needs of the Pacific Northwest beginning in the early 2030s.” (Last year X-energy and Energy Northwest said the project would be online “by 2030.”)

“We’ve been working for years to develop this project at the urging of our members, and have found that taking this first, bold step is difficult for utilities, especially those that provide electricity to ratepayers at the cost of production,” Greg Cullen, Energy Northwest’s vice president for energy services and development, said in a release. “We applaud Amazon for being willing to use their financial strength, need for power, and know-how to lead the way to a reliable, carbon-free power future for the region.”

That “first, bold” step is difficult because nuclear development is notoriously risky even with proven technologies, let alone novel designs like X-energy’s. The only other small modular reactor deal in the United States, between NuScale (which has the only approved small modular reactor design) and a coalition of Mountain West utilities, fell through due to escalating costs.

Amazon is also anchoring an equity investment in X-energy itself, alongside Citadel founder Ken Griffin and other investors. Amazon said its investment in X-energy “includes manufacturing capacity to develop the SMR equipment to support more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear energy projects utilizing X-energy’s technology.”

The reactor design that Energy Northwest and X-energy plan to deploy, the Xe-100, is in the “pre-application” process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. X-energy and the NRC have been engaging with each other since 2018, according to the docket for the project.

Amazon also announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Virginia utility Dominion Energy to look into SMR projects. Earlier this year, Dominion put out a request for proposals for SMRs at its existing North Anna site near Richmond, whose two reactors have a capacity of around 1,800 megawatts.

The Department of Energy has estimated that existing nuclear sites could host an additional 60 to 95 gigawatts of new nuclear power, which means the United States’ nuclear output could double without having to set up a new site for a reactor. The North Anna site has an “early site permit” from the NRC, which approves a particular site for nuclear reactors.

Yellow

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Hotspots

Fox News Goes After a Solar Farm

And more of this week’s top renewable energy fights across the country.

Map of U.S. renewable energy.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Otsego County, Michigan – The Mitten State is proving just how hard it can be to build a solar project in wooded areas. Especially once Fox News gets involved.

  • Last week, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said it wanted to lease more than 400 acres of undeveloped state-owned forestland for part of a much larger RWE Clean Energy solar project near the northern Michigan town of Gaylord.
  • Officials said they were approached by the company about the land. But the news sparked an immediate outcry, as state elected Republicans – and some Democrats – demanded to know why a forest would be cleared for ‘green’ energy. Some called for government firings.
  • Then came the national news coverage. On Friday, Fox News hosted a full four-minute segment focused on this one solar farm featuring iconoclastic activist Michael Shellenberger.
  • A few days later, RWE told the media it would not develop the project on state lands.
  • “[D]uring the development process, we conducted outreach to all landowners adjacent to the project location, including the Michigan Department of Natural Resources,” the company said in a statement to the Petoskey News-Review, adding it instead decided to move forward with leasing property from two private landowners.

2. Atlantic County, New Jersey – Opponents of offshore wind in Atlantic City are trying to undo an ordinance allowing construction of transmission cables that would connect the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project to the grid.

Keep reading...Show less
Policy Watch

How to Solve a Problem Like a Wind Ban

And more of this week’s top policy news around renewables.

Trump.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Trump’s Big Promise – Our nation’s incoming president is now saying he’ll ban all wind projects on Day 1, an expansion of his previous promise to stop only offshore wind.

  • “They litter our country like paper, like dropping garbage in a field,” Trump said at a press conference Tuesday. “We’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are built.”
  • Is this possible? It would be quite tricky, as the president only has control over the usage of federal lands and waters. While offshore wind falls entirely under the president’s purview, many onshore wind projects themselves fall entirely on state lands.
  • This is where the whole “wind kills birds” argument becomes important. Nearly all wind projects have at least some federal nexus because of wildlife protection laws, such as the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
  • Then there are the cables connecting these projects to the grid and interstate transmission projects that may require approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
  • I’m personally doubtful he will actually stop all wind in the U.S., though I do think offshore wind in its entirety is at risk (which I’ve written about). Trump has a habit of conflating things, and in classic fashion, he only spoke at the press conference about offshore wind projects. I think he was only referring to offshore wind, though I’m willing to eat my words.

2. The Big Nuclear Lawsuit – Texas and Utah are suing to kill the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license small modular reactors.

Keep reading...Show less
Q&A

Are Anti-Renewables Activists Going Unchallenged?

A conversation with J. Timmons Roberts, executive director of Brown University’s Climate Social Science Network


J. Timmons Roberts
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s interview is with Brown University professor J. Timmons Roberts. Those of you familiar with the fight over offshore wind may not know Roberts by name, but you’re definitely familiar with his work: He and his students have spearheaded some of the most impactful research conducted on anti-offshore wind opposition networks. This work is a must-read for anyone who wants to best understand how the anti-renewables movement functions and why it may be difficult to stop it from winning out.

So with Trump 2.0 on the verge of banning offshore wind outright, I decided to ask Roberts what he thinks developers should be paying attention to at this moment. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Keep reading...Show less