The tech giant has inked a major deal with Talen Energy to power its AWS cloud and AI infrastructure using 1.92 gigawatts of electricity from the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. That’s enough to light up more than 1.5 million homes—and now, it’ll help keep Amazon’s servers running 24/7.
The move places Amazon squarely in a growing club of tech heavyweights—alongside Microsoft and Meta—who are turning to existing nuclear power plants to meet their sky-high energy needs in a cleaner, more stable way.
A Shift from Behind-the-Meter to Grid-Friendly
While the deal was announced this week, it’s actually a reworked version of a previous arrangement. Initially, Amazon had planned to build a data center right next to the Susquehanna plant and draw power directly from it—bypassing the public grid. That setup, however, faced pushback from regulators who feared that such “behind-the-meter” deals would leave ordinary customers covering grid maintenance costs.
Now, with the updated agreement, Amazon will get its nuclear power through the grid like everyone else, paying the transmission fees that help keep the system running. Talen says the necessary grid upgrades will take place in spring 2026, and the contract will run through 2042.
Looking Ahead: Small Modular Reactors in the Mix
The partnership doesn’t stop there. Amazon and Talen also announced plans to explore building small modular reactors (SMRs) within Talen’s Pennsylvania footprint and expanding output at existing nuclear facilities.
Expanding nuclear capacity can be done in a few ways—switching to more enriched fuel, upgrading turbines, or tweaking operations to generate more heat and power. These changes are often simpler and more cost-effective than building entirely new plants.
Amazon Joins a Bigger Nuclear Trend
Amazon’s nuclear push mirrors a trend already underway. Microsoft started it last year by partnering with Constellation Energy to restart a dormant reactor at Three Mile Island in a $1.6 billion deal. Just weeks ago, Meta joined forces with Constellation as well, buying clean energy credits from a 1.1 GW Illinois-based plant.
As for SMRs, they’re still in the early stages. But Amazon is betting big here too. The company has backed X-energy, a startup planning to add 300 megawatts of SMR capacity in the Pacific Northwest and Virginia.
According to Talen, both the planned new SMRs and upgrades to current nuclear plants are meant to add net-new power to the PJM grid, the regional power network. That detail isn’t just technical—it’s also a nod to regulators, signaling that Amazon’s deal won’t shift the cost burden onto everyday ratepayers.
A Cleaner, More Resilient Cloud?
For Amazon, this is about more than energy. It’s about reliability, long-term costs, and showing leadership in decarbonizing the cloud. Nuclear power offers steady, carbon-free electricity, which is becoming essential as AI and cloud computing gobble up more energy every year.
In the race to build the clean internet of the future, Amazon just made one of its biggest power moves yet—literally.
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