Amazon: Nuclear Energy for Cleaner AI and Data Centres

Amazon sold more than 4.5 billion items in 2023 in the US alone – that’s around 143 products per second.

Running the 12th most visited website in the world takes a lot of energy, particularly alongside its cloud computing services through AWS. 

The company already matches all of the electricity consumed by its global operations with 100% renewable energy, a goal it achieved seven years ahead of schedule. 

The company’s next step is signing agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects.

This includes the construction of several new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). 

Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer at Amazon, says: “Meaningful climate action requires speed and scale — and Amazon continues to explore carbon-free energy solutions.

“We’ve signed agreements to help develop new nuclear energy projects in the US — including enabling the construction of new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These advanced nuclear reactors have a smaller physical footprint and can be built more quickly, allowing them to come online sooner. 

"Additionally, our Climate Pledge Fund investment in X-energy will help develop the fuel and technology to advance more than five gigawatts of new nuclear over the next 15 years. 

“It all signals another innovative step forward on our path to net-zero carbon by 2040.”

Amazon’s nuclear projects

Amazon’s new SMR agreements are part of its plan to transition to carbon-free energy in line with reaching net zero emissions. 

These investments support two sites and a company that operates in nuclear energy generation.

• Washington State: Amazon has partnered with Energy Northwest to develop four SMRs owned and operated by Energy Northwest. These will have an initial capacity of 320MW, expandable to 960MW
• Virginia: A partnership between Dominion Energy and Amazon to explore an SMR project at an existing nuclear power station that will bring at least 300MW of power to the region. Dominion projects power demands to increase by 85% over the next 15 years in Virginia
• X-Energy: This leading SMR developer is receiving investment from Amazon, supporting manufacturing capacity for more than 5GW of future nuclear energy projects using its technology. 

Why has Amazon chosen nuclear power?

“Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net zero carbon across our operations by 2040,” explains Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

“One of the fastest ways to address climate change is by transitioning our society to carbon-free energy sources. 

“Nuclear energy is both carbon-free and able to scale — which is why it’s an important area of investment for Amazon. 

“Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies that will generate energy for decades to come.”

SMRs are compact versions of traditional nuclear reactors with lower upfront costs and faster construction times.

Nuclear power’s impact on tech

As technology evolves, so does the need for more substantial and reliable power sources. 

Data centres and AI developments are forecasted to account for a significant portion of the US' electricity consumption by 2030, necessitating dependable, clean energy options.

Data centres could account for 9% of the US’ total electricity generation by 2030, up from 4% in 2023 according to the Electric Power Research Institute.

Because of this, Amazon isn’t the only tech giant investing in nuclear energy.

“The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies,” says Michael Terrell, Senior Director for Energy and Climate at Google.

Even Bill Gates, Co-Founder of Microsoft and CEO of TerraPower, is on board,

“Nuclear really is special,” he says. “Not because it's green — there are people who don’t value that part of it all, I wish they would — they value it because of the US leadership.”

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, adds: “Nuclear is critical to the future. As we increase our reliance on AI and data centres, we need reliable, carbon-free sources of energy. 

“There simply isn’t enough renewable energy to meet the demands of the future without nuclear power.”

Make sure you check out the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series - Sustainability LIVE 2024

Sustainability Magazine is a BizClik brand