Amazon: Twelve mini-reactors to reduce CO₂ footprint
Amazon wants to further reduce its CO₂ footprint and is relying on nuclear power from small reactors. The plans for this have now become more concrete.
The rendering shows what the future plant with the mini nuclear reactors could look like.
(Image: Amazon)
The online retailer Amazon is specifying the construction of a total of twelve modular mini-reactors, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), in the US state of Washington under the name Cascade Advanced Energy Facility, or Cascade for short. As Amazon announced on Thursday, SMRs from the company X-energy will be used. Specifically, these are Xe-100 type reactors. In X-energy has Amazon in a financing round in October 2024, and along with other investors, around 500 million US dollars were invested.
The nuclear power plant is to be built on a site outside Richland in the US state of Washington. The energy provider Energy Northwest is responsible for the implementation and will build Cascade together with X-energy. The plant is to comprise up to twelve SMRs in its final configuration. Initially, there will be four XE-100 mini-reactors with a total output of 320 MW. The plant is then to be gradually expanded to twelve reactors with an output of 960 MW according to Amazon's plans.
The Xe-100 reactors are a new generation of nuclear power plants that are operated with TRISO (Tristructural-isotropic fuel) fuel. The fuel consists of tiny, uranium-containing particles that can be embedded in graphite shells. TRISO has the property of being able to withstand high temperatures, radiation, and corrosion. Instead of water, the cooling system of the TRISO-SMRs uses liquid salt. The Xe-100 is modularly constructed, so that individual modules can already be prefabricated in factories.
Largely CO₂-free energy production
Amazon intends to use the energy produced in this way for AI applications and other “digital tools” that are “part of our daily lives.” Amazon hopes to reduce CO₂ emissions and decrease the company's CO₂ footprint with the SMRs. By 2039, more than 5 GWh of electricity generated by nuclear energy are to be fed into the US power grid, according to the long-term plan. This will then also benefit private households. Up to 3.8 million households could be supplied in this way. To get the nuclear power plants underway as quickly as possible, Amazon and X-energy have made agreements with the South Korean companies Doosan Enerbility and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.
However, it will still take some time until the plant in Washington is completed and can produce energy. Construction is not planned to begin until the end of the 2020s. Commissioning is then scheduled for the 2030s.
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Until then, initial measures are to be taken to train suitable personnel for the nuclear power plant. To this end, funding has been provided by the Department of Energy to establish an Energy Learning Center at Columbia Basin College in Pasco (Washington). The focus will be on a simulator that replicates the control room of an Xe-100. Students can thus gain initial experience with the technology. The simulator is expected to go into operation in 2025.
(olb)
