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Manufacturing NewsTEG DailyOctober 26, 2026

October 26, 2026 · Sullivan County · Story 4 of 5

Amazon, AEP and X-energy Explore a 960-Megawatt Nuclear Plant in Sullivan County

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Amazon, American Electric Power and X-energy announced they are exploring a 960-megawatt small modular nuclear project using 12 Xe-100 reactors at the former Breed Generating Station site in Sullivan County. AEP and X-energy will run feasibility studies while Amazon funds development and plans a long-term power purchase agreement. The project could bring more than 1,000 construction jobs and over 100 permanent positions, but no final investment decision has been made.

The gating item is not in Indiana at all. X-energy cannot file its own construction permit for this site until its first actual commercial reactor, under construction for Dow Chemical in Seadrift, Texas, clears its Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety review, expected by the end of 2026. AEP's own disclosures show it needs 63 gigawatts of new capacity by 2030 against roughly 30 gigawatts today, which is why AEP is banking on a retired coal site in Sullivan County as a backstop against a 6.8 gigawatt capacity shortfall across the PJM grid, not chasing an opportunistic data center deal. Operators evaluating their own long-term power options can read our breakdown of small modular reactors and microreactors for C&I power.

Impact
The real gating item for this project isn't in the announcement: X-energy can't file its own NRC construction permit for Indiana until its first actual commercial project (the Dow Chemical plant in Seadrift, Texas) clears its NRC safety review, expected by end of 2026. AEP's own disclosures show it needs 63 GW of new capacity by 2030 against roughly 30 GW today, which is why this retired coal site is a strategic backstop against PJM's 6.8 GW capacity shortfall, not just an opportunistic data-center play.
Watch
Completion of the NRC safety review on X-energy's Seadrift, Texas project, which must clear before Indiana's own permit process can formally begin.
For the huddle

Given X-energy's entire Indiana timeline is gated behind an NRC review happening in a different state, how much weight should we put on a 2029 reactor date if we're planning our own long-term power contracts around it?

AES, Duke and NIPSCO are each striking different cost-allocation deals with hyperscalers right now, and a Sullivan County nuclear project is still years from a final investment decision. That uncertainty is exactly why it is worth evaluating on-site generation or a longer power contract now, before the next data center lands on your part of the grid and the cost-allocation fight repeats.

Sources

  1. X-Energy expands nuclear pipeline with new Indiana reactor proposal · constructionreviewonline.com

Earlier coverage

From the brief, October 26, 2026

  1. Nucor's $105 Million Crawfordsville Expansion
  2. AES Indiana's Rate Increase Rehearing Pushes to March While Bills Keep Rising
  3. IURC Approves AES's $1.3 Billion Plan to Power Google's Monrovia Data Center
  4. Amazon, AEP and X-energy Explore a 960-Megawatt Nuclear Plant in Sullivan County
  5. Amazon's $100 Million Robotics Manufacturing Plant Lands in Greenwood

The whole day’s brief →

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