Amazon has just joined the club of technology giants turning to nuclear energy to meet the enormous needs arising from the development of productive artificial intelligence applications, as well as the commitment to reduce carbon emissions.
Amazon Web Services announced it is investing more than $500 million in nuclear energy projects from Virginia to Washington.
AWS announced that it has signed an agreement with Dominion Energy, a Virginia utility, to explore the development of a small modular nuclear reactor, or SMR, near the existing North Anna nuclear plant. Nuclear reactors do not produce carbon emissions.
The SMR is an advanced type of nuclear reactor with a smaller footprint and faster construction time than traditional reactors. Amazon is the latest major technology company to buy nuclear power to meet the growing demands of data centers. Earlier this week, Google announced that it will purchase power from SMR Kairos Power. And it wasn’t long ago that Constellation Energy announced it was restarting Three Mile Island to power Microsoft’s data centers.
“There won’t be enough wind and solar power to meet demand, so nuclear power is a huge opportunity,” said Matthew Garman, CEO of AWS. “Furthermore, technology is evolving. SMR reactors are safe and easy to build,” he added.
Data center alley
Virginia is home to nearly half of all U.S. data centers, in an area aptly named Data Center Alley. It is estimated that 70% of the world’s Internet traffic passes through Data Center Alley every day.
Dominion serves approximately 3,500 megawatts to 452 data centers in Virginia. About 70% of them are in Data Center Alley. A single data center typically requires about 30 megawatts or more, according to Dominion Energy.
Bob Blue, the company’s president and CEO, recently said the company is now taking individual orders for 60 megawatts to 90 megawatts or more.
85% increase in energy demand over the next 15 years
Dominion predicts that energy demand will increase by 85% over the next 15 years. AWS expects the new SMRs to bring at least 300 megawatts of power to the Virginia region.
AWS plans to invest $35 billion through 2040 to build multiple data center campuses across Virginia. It also announced a new agreement with utility Energy Northwest, a consortium of statewide public utilities, to finance the development, permitting and construction of four SMRs in Washington state. The reactors will be built, owned and operated by Energy Northwest, but will provide power directly to the grid, which will also help Amazon’s operations.
Amazon will have the right to purchase electricity from the first four units. Energy Northwest has the option to build up to eight additional units. This energy will also be available to Amazon and utility companies in the Northwest to power homes and businesses.