03:18 PM EDT, 10/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Amazon.com ( AMZN ) announced new agreements to support the development of small modular nuclear reactors, including anchoring a funding round for X-Energy Reactor and partnering with Dominion Energy ( D ) .

The company is leading a funding round of roughly $500 million for X-Energy through its Climate Pledge Fund. Other participants include Citadel Chief Executive Ken Griffin, affiliates of Ares Management ( ARES ) , NGP, and the University of Michigan.

"This collaboration between Amazon ( AMZN ) and X-energy is a significant step toward accelerating advanced nuclear technologies that can help us bring new sources of carbon-free energy to the grid cost-effectively and safely," Kevin Miller, Amazon's ( AMZN ) vice president of global data centers, said in a statement. X-Energy's technology will help the e-commerce and cloud computing giant achieve net-zero carbon emission status by 2040, he said.

The funding will help X-Energy complete its reactor design and licensing and the first phase of its TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Tennessee. The investment will support future carbon-free projects, according to the announcement. SMRs have a smaller physical footprint, allowing them to be built closer to the grid.

Amazon ( AMZN ) and X-Energy are further collaborating to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new power projects online across the US by 2039, which they said represents the largest commercial deployment target of SMRs to date. These will help meet growing energy needs, the companies said. They'll additionally collaborate on standardizing a "deployment and financing model" to develop projects with utilities.

"Amazon ( AMZN ) and X-Energy are poised to define the future of advanced nuclear energy in the commercial marketplace," X-Energy Chief Executive J. Clay Sell said. "To fully realize the opportunities available through artificial intelligence, we must bring clean, safe, and reliable electrons onto the grid with proven technologies that can scale and grow with demand."

Separately, Amazon ( AMZN ) and Dominion Energy Virginia agreed to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion's existing North Anna nuclear power station, which could bring at least 300 megawatts of power to the Virginia region, Amazon ( AMZN ) said.

"This collaboration gives us a potential path to advance SMRs with minimal rate impacts for our residential customers and substantially reduced development risk," Dominion Energy ( D ) CEO Robert Blue said in a joint statement.

In addition, Amazon ( AMZN ) and public power agency Energy Northwest agreed to fund efforts for the development of SMR technology in Washington state.

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