Amazon Makes $500M Bet on Itty-Bitty Nuclear Reactors to Fuel Cloud Empire
17th October 2024
On Wednesday, Amazon announced plans to support the development of three new nuclear energy projects, which it says will see the construction of several new small modular reactors (SMRs).
Just as their name suggests, SMRs are miniaturized nuclear power plants designed to be mass produced in a modular fashion. Amazon touts “faster build times” and the ability to deploy them “closer to the grid” as major benefits.
While there are several startups developing SMRs, including NuScale and Sam Altman-backed Oklo, Amazon is betting big on X-energy’s SMR tech for the Washington development. The e-tailer is one of the major investors in a $500 million Series-C funding intended to accelerate the development of X-energy’s tech and will reportedly support its goal of bringing more than 5 gigawatts of SMRs online in the US by 2039.