AI’s hunger for energy is satisfied with nuclear power: Amazon’s 20 billion plan alongside the nuclear power plant

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is doubling down on its artificial intelligence ambitions with a $20 billion expansion plan to build two new data center campuses in Pennsylvania, one of them directly adjacent to a major nuclear power plant, Reuters reports.

AWS aims to deploy several data centers over the next 10 years, and the build will be powered by zero-carbon nuclear energy , making it one of the largest private nuclear-backed energy operations in the United States to date, according to Reuters.

The first site, planned in Salem Township near the 2.5 GW Susquehanna Steam Power Plant, leverages existing engineering infrastructure based on the campus’ 960 MW design capacity.

Amazon is partnering with Talen Energy , a former electric utility turned nuclear innovator, to supply the cloud giant with electricity generated by its Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant, located in Luzerne County.

Talen previously spun off its nuclear division to Cumulus Data, which is developing a 475 MW data center campus adjacent to the power plant. That infrastructure will now be part of Amazon’s AI backbone.

The project is currently under review by FERC after regulators capped the supply at 300 MW, citing grid reliability concerns . However, AWS is moving forward, aiming for stable renewables without typical grid bottlenecks.

Analysts say the move could accelerate the return of baseload nuclear as a strategic energy resource in the U.S. data economy. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called the deal the largest in state history, with construction expected to generate more than 1,250 unionized jobs in the near term.

“Pennsylvania is back to competing, and I am proud to announce that, with Amazon’s commitment to invest at least $20 billion to build new state-of-the-art data center campuses across our Commonwealth, we have secured the largest private sector investment in Pennsylvania’s history,” Shapiro said.

In a broader energy context, Amazon’s bet is in line with a growing wave of private-sector clean-energy purchases, which hope to successfully sell a different version of AI energy use: ultimately, AI use can be seen as a lockpick to achieve greater deployment of fourth-generation nuclear power.

The article AI's hunger for energy is satisfied with nuclear power: Amazon's 20 billion plan alongside the nuclear power plant comes from Scenari Economici .

This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/amazon-ai-data-center-nucleare/ on Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:00:12 +0000.