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Manufacturing NewsTEG DailyOctober 21, 2026

October 21, 2026 · Statewide · Story 2 of 5

Indiana Signs Nuclear MOU for Up to 6 GW of CANDU Reactors

Daniel BurkePublished every day

AtkinsRéalis, the State of Indiana, and Hoosier Energy signed a memorandum of understanding on Oct. 19 to study a campus of up to eight CANDU reactors capable of 6.0 gigawatts. No site has been picked, no funding committed, and no study fee disclosed. Governor Braun and Hoosier Energy CEO Donna Walker framed it as an affordability and workforce play tied to data center and AI demand, and AtkinsRéalis is pitching Indiana as the first U.S. CANDU deployment, with one of seven required NRC technical reports filed so far.

The same day, AEP, X-energy, and Amazon announced a competing 960 megawatt Xe-100 small modular reactor project at the former Breed coal plant in Sullivan County, already backed by Amazon's milestone capital and a 5 gigawatt offtake target by 2039, an anchor customer the CANDU MOU does not have. The bigger unpriced problem: the U.S. produces no heavy water domestically, the only large detritiation plant sits in Ontario already committed to Canada's own fleet, and any interim gas plants the MOU discusses building would get capitalized into the rate base years before a single nuclear kilowatt comes online, the same pattern that drove billions in overruns at Georgia's Vogtle plant.

Impact
This landed the same day AEP, X-energy, and Amazon announced a competing 960 MW Xe-100 SMR project at the former Breed coal plant in Sullivan County, and that deal already has Amazon providing milestone-based capital and a 5 GW offtake target by 2039, an anchor customer the CANDU MOU entirely lacks. The bigger unpriced risk: the U.S. produces no heavy water domestically, the only large detritiation plant is Ontario's Darlington facility already committed to Canada's own fleet, and any interim gas-fired bridging plants discussed in the MOU would get capitalized into the rate base years before nuclear MW ever comes online, the same pattern that drove billions in cost overruns at Georgia's Vogtle plant.
Watch
AtkinsRéalis' remaining six NRC technical reports and any site-selection or financing announcements tied to this MOU versus the competing Sullivan County AEP/X-energy/Amazon SMR project.
For the huddle

If both the CANDU and Sullivan County SMR proposals lean on interim gas plants getting capitalized into the rate base before any new generation comes online, how exposed is our power cost forecast over the next five years regardless of which project wins?

Both the AtkinsRéalis CANDU proposal and the AEP/X-energy Sullivan County SMR deal discuss building natural gas plants to bridge the gap before nuclear capacity arrives, and those gas plants typically get capitalized into the rate base years before any new generation comes online, so your five-year power cost forecast should assume that cost lands no matter which project moves forward.

Sources

  1. Hoosier Energy to explore building 6-gigawatt nuclear project with AtkinsRéalis · constructionreviewonline.com

From the brief, October 21, 2026

  1. Rolls-Royce Completes $1 Billion Indianapolis Defense Engine Campus
  2. Indiana Signs Nuclear MOU for Up to 6 GW of CANDU Reactors
  3. Cleveland-Cliffs Delays Burns Harbor Reline, Posts Strongest Quarter in Three Years
  4. Sen. Banks' Fort Wayne Defense Summit Puts Contested Contracts on Stage
  5. Gov. Braun's Power Up Indiana Workforce Push Faces a Funding and Timing Gap

The whole day’s brief →

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