Amazon to invest in 3 nuclear plants as it scrambles to power AI programs
Amazon is the latest tech giant to embrace nuclear energy as it scrambles to supply electricity-hogging artificial intelligence programs.Amazon Web Services, the Seattle-based e-retailer’s cloud computing unit, said Wednesday it will invest more than half a billion dollars in three projects — one in Washington state, one in Virginia and another in Pennsylvania.The Virginia and Washington state deals obligate AWS to put up the money for power utilities to study the feasibility of adding small modular reactors to existing energy stations.In exchange, Amazon will have the right to purchase power from an initial installation of four small modular reactors.Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will have the option to add up to eight 80 MW modules, resulting in a total capacity up to 960 MWs, or enough to power the equivalent of more than 770,000 US homes.The additional power would be available to Amazon and utilities to power homes and businesses.AWS reacheding agreement with Virginia’s utility company to build a small modular nuclear reactor near an existing power station in Louisa County.A small modular reactor (SMR) is smaller in size and capacity compared to traditional nuclear reactors.
“Modular” means they can be produced in factories and transported to sites for assembly, allowing for more flexible deployment and potentially reduced construction time and costs.“Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies that will generate energy for decades to come,” said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services.SMRs will have their components built in a factory to reduce construction costs.Today’s larger reactors are built onsite.
Critics of SMRs say they will be too expensive to achieve the desired economies of scale.Nuclear power, which generates electricity virtually free of greenhouse gas emissions and provides high-paying union jobs, gets wide support from both Democrats and Republicans.But no US SMRs exist...