Amazon Backs 12 Nuclear Reactors in Indiana to Power Data Centers
Amazon has committed to buying electricity from 12 proposed small modular nuclear reactors in Indiana to feed its growing fleet of data centers. The planned facility would deliver up to 960 megawatts, though commercial operation remains years away.
Repurposing coal land for modular nuclear
Tech giants are scouring the country for gigawatts of clean electricity, and Amazon is betting heavily on advanced fission. Under the new agreement, Amazon plans to purchase power from a planned 12-reactor complex built on the grounds of the shuttered Breed coal plant in Sullivan County, Indiana.
The project relies on X-energy's Xe-100 design, a small modular reactor (SMR) rated at 80 megawatts per unit. Instead of water cooling, these reactors circulate helium gas and run on TRISO fuel—tiny uranium particles wrapped in protective ceramic coatings designed to withstand extreme heat without melting down.
With 12 units working in tandem, the site would output roughly 960 megawatts of electricity. That capacity is slated to feed both Amazon's expanding server farms and the regional transmission network as US utilities weed out phantom AI data centers over grid strain.
X-energy Xe-100 Indiana project: capacity and specs
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Planned location | Sullivan County, Indiana |
| Total planned reactors | 12 units |
| Output per reactor | 80 MW |
| Total site output | 960 MW |
| Coolant type | Helium gas |
| Fuel type | TRISO pebble bed |
| Target operation date | Mid-2030s (provisional) |
Why Amazon is signing up early
Big tech needs power guarantees, and reactor builders need someone to pay the upfront bill.
Developing next-generation nuclear facilities carries massive capital risk. By agreeing to purchase output, Amazon acts as the anchor customer required to secure private financing and start long regulatory reviews.
The move builds on an alliance formed in 2024, when Amazon led a $700 million funding round for X-energy. That cash helped kickstart reactor design licensing and an initial fuel production plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Amazon has stated it is investing billions across several nuclear ventures, aiming to help deploy more than 5 gigawatts of nuclear capacity nationwide by 2039.
Signing an agreement for modular reactors in 2026 for delivery in the mid-2030s shows just how desperate cloud providers are for reliable baseload power. Wind and solar work today, but training clusters require around-the-clock current. Until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission actually licenses and inspects a completed commercial SMR, however, this remains a financial bet on potential generation rather than real power plugged into the grid.
The regulatory timeline remains the catch
While the technical roadmap looks clean on paper, the regulatory reality is a different story. The United States does not currently operate a single commercial small modular reactor supplying electricity to the grid.
X-energy is already pursuing a construction permit for a smaller four-reactor industrial installation in Texas with Dow, but that does not clear the path in Indiana. Approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for standard designs and specific sites often takes years.
Company representatives estimate the Indiana complex could start producing power in the mid-2030s, but that target remains strictly provisional as engineering evaluations and local approvals crawl forward.
Availability and timeline
The planned Indiana facility is not an immediate fix for today's computational bottleneck. With commercial operation tentatively eyed for the mid-2030s, the plant will not begin feeding electricity to the Midwest grid or Amazon facilities before then. Power purchase pricing and commercial terms have not been publicly disclosed.
Securing long-term clean electricity has become a primary bottleneck for enterprise infrastructure. Amazon's Indiana bet signals that hyperscalers will help finance early-stage nuclear engineering just to ensure they hold the keys to whatever power comes online a decade from now.
Frequently asked questions
How much power will the Indiana nuclear facility generate?
The project is designed to deliver up to 960 megawatts using 12 individual 80-megawatt X-energy Xe-100 modular reactors on a former coal plant site.
When will Amazon's Indiana nuclear reactors come online?
X-energy representatives tentatively project operations could begin around the mid-2030s, though schedules remain subject to regulatory approvals and construction milestones.
Sources
- ‘New tech needs initial customers’: Amazon backs 12 nuclear reactors in Indiana to power data centers, but 2030s timeline remains uncertain | TechRadar. techradar.com, 2026. https://www.techradar.com/pro/amazon-is-spending-over-usd1-billion-on-a-new-nuclear-energy-project-to-power-its-next-data-centers-but-will-it-really-live-up-to-the-test