Agreement to Study 12 Reactors With 960 Megawatts of Capacity in Indiana, With Amazon Development Funding
Key Facts
X-energy and American Electric Power announced a joint development agreement on October 19 to study the feasibility of a proposed 960-megawatt small modular reactor plant in Indiana. The plan calls for 12 Xe-100 units near the site of the retired Breed plant in Sullivan County. Amazon is providing staged funding for development work, while the partnership combines AEP’s experience in power generation and nuclear operations with X-energy’s technology. X-energy said the project remains in the feasibility study phase, making the announcement a preparatory step rather than a final decision to build the plant. If the project reaches operation, Amazon intends to buy the electricity under a long-term arrangement, according to published coverage of the agreement.
The company statement described Amazon’s funding as development capital disbursed in stages, but did not specify its value. The announcement also does not establish that a final power purchase agreement has been signed; the proposed purchase is contingent on the facility potentially entering service. The arrangement points to Amazon’s role as a potential energy buyer, while AEP provides expertise in power generation and nuclear plant operations. The project is part of broader cooperation between Amazon and X-energy aimed at adding more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity to the U.S. grid by 2039. X-energy said the Indiana project is the second commercial project under this collaboration.
The Xe-100 design consists of reactors rated at 80 megawatts per unit, using helium for cooling and TRISO fuel. That means the proposed total capacity in Indiana would be spread across multiple units rather than a single large reactor, under the announced plan. There are currently no operating commercial nuclear power plants in the state, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Indiana Governor Mike Brown said the project could strengthen the electricity grid and position Indiana as a national leader in advanced nuclear energy. The move comes as utilities seek to add new sources amid rising electricity demand.
Demand forecasts cited by Utility Dive show the scale of expansion Indiana utilities expect; peak load could rise to more than 7,000 megawatts by 2030, compared with 2,800 megawatts in the stated baseline. AEP’s head of nuclear development said the company had about 30 gigawatts of available capacity in 2025, but needs to add 63 gigawatts by 2030. The executive attributed the need for expansion to continued demand growth, including industrial users, homes shifting to electricity and artificial intelligence data centers. He added that the company expects demand to keep growing after 2030. These estimates link the Indiana project to a broader need for additional supply serving the grid and data centers.
State policy includes a tax incentive equal to 20% of eligible expenses for manufacturing a small nuclear reactor in Indiana, according to the Department of Revenue. A regulatory mechanism allows a utility to recover 80% of approved project development costs, with recovery of the remaining 20% deferred until the next base-rate case, according to a Utility Commission report. These mechanisms describe specific paths for supporting manufacturing and recovering development costs, not general tax exemptions. The announcement provided no financial details about the Indiana project or the terms of the proposed power purchase agreement. As a result, the project cost and the allocation of financial risks among the parties remain undisclosed in the available information.
Comparison with Amazon’s agreement in Maryland points to the company’s expanding engagement with nuclear power, though the two projects differ in nature. On September 30, Amazon announced a 20-year, 690-megawatt power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to expand the existing Calvert Cliffs plant. The Indiana project, by contrast, proposes a new plant and remains in the feasibility assessment phase, with a final decision on whether to proceed expected by late 2029. X-energy also said the construction permit application for its proposed four-unit Dow plant in Texas had reached the final stages of Nuclear Regulatory Commission review. That remains a separate track from the Indiana project, while Bloomberg coverage indicates the Xe-100 design still needs federal approval and none of its projects was under construction when the report was published.