A former coal plant on the banks of Indiana\u2019s Wabash River could one day hold a dozen nuclear reactors. On October 19, Amazon, the utility American Electric Power (AEP), and reactor designer X-energy announced an agreement to develop 12 small modular reactors at the old Breed Generating Station in Sullivan County. Amazon is bankrolling the development work, and it would be first in line to buy the electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t expect shovels in the dirt just yet, however. The companies haven\u2019t made a final investment decision, and nobody has put a price tag or a construction date on the project. AEP\u2019s chief executive told investors on October 28<\/a> that the deal covers only development and feasibility work and that the decision could come in 2030 at the earliest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it does happen, the site near Fairbanks, on the river\u2019s east bank, would host X-energy\u2019s Xe-100. It\u2019s a high-temperature gas reactor that uses helium as its coolant, and each unit is rated at 80 megawatts. The plans group the 12 reactors into three blocks of four, for a combined 960 megawatts. That\u2019s just shy of a full gigawatt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n