Amazon Invests in Small Nuclear Reactors for Data Center Power

There have been announcements by both tech giants, Amazon and Google, about their plans to fund small nuclear reactors. This follows a similar plan announced by Google two days ago to the public. This is yet another venture through which the two tech giants are finding sustainable means of producing electricity to increase demand from their data centers and artificial intelligence advancement.

This investment will be following the plans by the owner of decommissioned nuclear facility Three Mile Island to reprise the reactor for providing power for Microsoft’s data centers. In the push for solar and wind energy, companies Amazon and Google have relentlessly pursued them, but these firms now realize they have to diversify their carbon-free energy pool in meeting promises on emission cuts and increasing demand.

Nuclear power is now clearly an alternative choice because its reactors do not produce greenhouse gases that create the problem of fossil fuel power generation. The International Energy Agency has forecasted a projection as high as 1,000 terawatt hours for data center electricity consumption by 2026, more than doubling from the 2022 figure. Such growing demand points to how badly clean, reliable energy sources are needed.

Kevin Miller, Amazon Web Services‘ Vice President of Global Data Centers, indicated that advanced nuclear capacity will be critical to meeting that demand. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm hailed Amazon’s announcement at the public event at the company’s second headquarters in Virginia, saying small modular reactors are the key to making that transition away from fossil fuels while meeting the energy needs of data centers and new manufacturing facilities.

Its implication, in terms of energy production capability, is modest: it stands at one-third that of traditional reactors. Certainly, small modular reactors should prove faster and cheaper to deploy, and if achieved, successful development could be a watershed moment in the landscape of this fuel.

A joint partnership with utility Dominion Energy and investment in reactor developer X-energy was Amazon’s new direction in committing to the addition of vast clean energy capacity-thousands of megawatts by the late 2030s. Similar commitments were set by its competitors, Amazon and Google, with both competing in targetting for 100% renewable energy use by 2030 and net zero emissions.