Commercial

Amazon’s $334M for SMR Construction in Hanford

By Rachael Zisk
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Image: DOE

This year has been the year of data giants signing up for the nuclear energy renaissance, and there are no signs of slowing on that front.

Last week, Amazon committed $334M to a feasibility study on deploying four SMRs at the Hanford site in Washington, Cascade PBS reported. The funding is part of a previously announced collaboration with Energy Northwest to supply power to the grid in Washington and ensure accessible and reliable power for Amazon’s data center projects in the Pacific Northwest.

“It’s an important area of investment for Amazon,” AWS CEO Matt Garman told Cascade PBS. “Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies for decades to come.”

Amazon’s side of the deal: Amazon announced its involvement in the Hanford project in October when it revealed a partnership with Energy Northwest to build the four-unit plant with reactors from X-energy. Amazon also made a ~$500M strategic investment in X-energy in anticipation of the project.

As it stands, the plan for the four-unit SMR plant would generate 320 MW of grid power. Amazon’s investment would win the company first access to that power generation.

  • Amazon is looking just about everywhere for more energy availability for its data center operations as it prepares to scale up with demand.
  • The site has the potential to scale up to 12 SMR units producing a total of 960 MW.
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