Amazon, American Electric Power (AEP) and X-energy announced a joint development agreement to explore a 960-MW nuclear project at the former Breed coal-fired plant in Sullivan County, Indiana, using 12 X-energy Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.

The project is early-stage with no final investment decision, and could create more than 1,000 construction jobs and more than 100 permanent jobs. Amazon will provide project development funding.

Second deployment in the Amazon–X-energy pipeline

The Indiana proposal would be the second industrial deployment under X-energy and Amazon's collaboration aimed at bringing more than 5 GW of new nuclear capacity to the US grid by 2039. X-energy and AEP will evaluate developing the 12-unit plant near the former coal site.

For the fuel cycle, the numbers are what matter. Each Xe-100 is a pebble-bed high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, a design class that depends on TRISO particle fuel — and TRISO fuel in turn requires high-assay low-enriched uranium at enrichments well above conventional light-water reactor fuel.

TRISO qualification is advancing in parallel

Industry and Idaho National Laboratory are collaborating to test new varieties of TRISO fuel. TRISO fuel surrounds tiny uranium particles with multiple containment layers and has been demonstrated to operate at very high temperatures while maintaining strong safety performance. The work involves companies including BWXT, Radiant and X-energy.

TRISO fuel surrounds tiny uranium particles with multiple containment layers and has been demonstrated to operate at very high temperatures while maintaining strong safety performance.

On the supply side, Centrus Energy holds multi-year HALEU supply agreements with advanced reactor developers including X-energy, Radiant Industries and Antares Nuclear, often backed by customer prepayments. Centrus operates the only NRC-licensed US facility capable of producing HALEU enriched between 5% and 20% U-235.

International regulatory momentum

The Xe-100 is also drawing attention outside the US. UK regulators are beginning an assessment of the Xe-100 as part of planned "radical reforms," following the release of the "Building Our Nuclear Nation" policy paper in March 2026, which is intended to fundamentally reshape the nuclear regulatory landscape and speed deployment.

A 12-unit order in Indiana would be one of the largest single commitments to gas-cooled reactor technology in the West — and, if it proceeds, a step change in the bankable demand signal that HALEU producers and TRISO fabricators have been waiting for.

This article was assisted by AI analysis. Please refer to the original source for official information.