X-energy and American Electric Power (AEP) have signed a joint development agreement to assess a proposed 960 MW small modular reactor (SMR) plant in Sullivan County, Indiana, with Amazon providing development funding.
The partners will evaluate a 12-unit plant using X-energy’s Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor technology near the former Breed Generating Station. The proposal would redevelop the AEP-owned brownfield site to supply electricity to the regional grid as power demand grows.
Each Xe-100 module is rated at 80 MWe and uses helium as a coolant and tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel. The proposed 12-unit configuration would provide a combined capacity of 960 MW. The technology is designed to deliver firm, low-carbon electricity, although the Indiana project remains at the feasibility stage.
Amazon’s funding will be linked to development milestones. The companies said the agreement builds on their wider collaboration to support more than 5 GW of new nuclear capacity on the US grid by 2039. The Indiana proposal would be the second commercial deployment pursued under that collaboration, following Energy Northwest’s Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in Washington state.
AEP chairman, president and chief executive Bill Fehrman said the agreements would provide capital protections and financial safeguards that the utility considers essential before a potential nuclear project can proceed. Amazon said the project is intended to provide nearly a gigawatt of carbon-free power while covering its full costs.
The proposal adds to X-energy’s announced commercial pipeline. Its first planned Xe-100 deployment is a four-unit project at a Dow manufacturing site on the Texas Gulf Coast, intended to supply electricity and industrial steam. That project is undergoing US Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of its construction permit application.
No construction schedule or final investment decision for the Indiana project was announced. Its development will depend on the outcome of feasibility work and subsequent project approvals.
