Amazon has become the latest tech giant to double down on using nuclear reactors to power data centers, after signing three agreements to develop small modular reactor (SMR) technology. 

Part of that will include a project to develop four advanced SMRs with Washington state-based public utility consortium Energy Northwest. According to the energy arm of the European Commission, SMRs can be anywhere between one-tenth and one-quarter the size of a traditional nuclear power plant. Because of that, they typically require less cooling capacity, can be used in smaller spaces, and can be assembled in a factory and then easily installed in modules at a separate location. 

Amazon's SMRs will be able to generate around 320 megawatts of capacity in the initial stages, with the option to increase that total to 960 megawatts. According to an October 16 release from Amazon, that would be enough to power the equivalent of more than 770,000 homes in the U.S. 

“Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040,” said Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman. 

Amazon also plans to use a nuclear facility in Pennsylvania to power a soon-to-be-built neighboring data center, and signed an agreement with Virginia utility company Dominion Energy to develop SMR technology near an existing nuclear power station. 

On October 14, Google signed a similar deal with California-based Kairos Power to develop small nuclear reactors to generate electricity for its artificial intelligence data centers. Weeks before that, Microsoft announced a deal to buy energy from Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear plant to power its own data centers.