Amazon tapped into an emerging trend this week, one that’s seeing big tech firms buy power from existing nuclear power plants.
The tech company will power a chunk of its AWS cloud and AI servers using 1.92 gigawatts of electricity from Talen Energy’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Amazon is the latest hyperscaler to go direct to big nuclear operators, following on the heels of Microsoft and Meta.
Amazon’s deal was announced Wednesday, but it’s not entirely new, instead modifying an existing arrangement with Talen. The old version had Amazon building a data center next to the Susquehanna power plant, siphoning electricity directly from the facility without first sending it to the grid.
That deal was killed by regulators over concerns that customers would unfairly shoulder the burden of running the grid. Today, Susquehanna provides power to the grid, meaning every kilowatt-hour includes transmission fees that support the grid’s maintenance and development. Amazon’s behind-the-meter arrangement would have sidestepped those fees.
This week’s revisions shift Amazon’s power purchase agreement in front of the meter, meaning the AWS data center will be billed like other similar customers who are grid-connected. The transmission lines will be reconfigured in spring of 2026, Talen said, and the deal covers energy purchased through 2042.
But wait, there’s more: The two companies also said they will look to build small modular reactors “within Talen’s Pennsylvania footprint” and expand generation at existing nuclear power plants.
Expanding existing power plants is typically an easier way to add new nuclear. They might include switching to more highly enriched fuel to produce more heat, tweaking the settings to squeeze out more power, or renovating the turbines for a bigger bump.
Microsoft kicked off the trend last year when it announced that it would work with Constellation Energy to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island, a $1.6 billion project that will generate 835 megawatts. Meta hopped aboard earlier this month, also with Constellation, to buy the “clean energy attributes” of a 1.1 gigawatt nuclear power plant in Illinois.
Amazon and Talen’s pledge to build new small modular reactors is a longer shot, though there, too, Amazon is in good company with its peers. Several startups are pursuing the concept with the hopes of cutting construction costs by mass-producing parts. Amazon has invested in an SMR startup, X-energy, which is planning to add 300 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity in the Pacific Northwest and Virginia.
New generation at existing reactors and new SMRs are intended “to add net-new energy to the PJM grid,” Talen said, referring to the region’s grid operator. That last bit is likely a bid to head off any criticism from regulators about leaving ratepayers holding the bag.
