Dominion and Amazon to partner on modular nuclear reactors in Louisa County

One day after Dominion Energy filed a new plan with Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, the company has announced a partnership with Amazon to advance development of small modular reactors at the North Anna power station.

“Power demand in Virginia is growing by more than 5 percent annually and is expected to double in the next 15 years,” reads a press announcement sent out this morning. “To reliably serve this unprecedented growth, Dominion Energy is developing an ‘all-of-the-above’ mix of new power generation sources, including leading investments in offshore wind, solar, battery storage and natural gas.”

The announcement builds off the issuance in July of a request for proposals for firms to explore construction at Lake Anna. Governor Glenn Youngkin was on hand at that announcement as well as one today. 

“In alignment with our All-American, All-of-the-Above energy plan, small modular nuclear reactors will play a critical role in positioning Virginia as a leading nuclear innovation hub,” Youngkin is quoted in the press release. “Amazon Web Services’ commitment to this technology and their partnership with Dominion is a significant step forward to meet the future power needs of a growing Virginia.”

Amazon is also constructing two data center campuses in Louisa County as part of an $11 billion investment. That was announced in late August 2023. 

On Tuesday, Dominion Energy filed a document called the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with both the SCC and the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

“It is apparent under any reasonable set of planning assumptions that maintaining reliability and affordability will require an ‘all of the above’ approach that includes continued focus on energy efficiency programs, an expanded and improved transmission and distribution grid, and more of all available generation resources—wind (primarily offshore), solar, natural gas and nuclear, along with energy storage,” reads an introduction to the IRP. 

The document also details how small modular reactors produce about a third of the power of a traditional reactor at about 300 megawatts. One advantage is they can be built off site and shipped in. 

“While they still use nuclear fission to generate heat, they employ alternative coolants such as gas, liquid metal, or molten salt instead of water,” reads page 62 of the IPR. 

The plan anticipates that the first SMR’s could come online in the early to mid 2030’s. 

Here are some other highlights as written by Dominion:

• 3,400 megawatts (MW) of new offshore wind in addition to the 2,600-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project currently under development off the coast of Virginia Beach. CVOW is the largest offshore wind project under development in the U.S. and remains on-time and on-budget.
• Around 12,000 MW of new solar, a more than 150% increase to the 4,750 MW of solar the company currently has in operation or under development.
• Around 500 MW of new battery storage

On October 17, one environmental groups responded to Dominon’s IPR. The head of the Piedmont Environmental Council said increases in demand for electricity are being driven by the proliferation of data centers across Virginia.

“We’re not adding 3.6 million new ratepayers; population growth in Virginia is low, at an annual rate of
less than 0.5 percent,” said Chris Miller, PEC’s president. “The steep increase in power consumption, projected by Dominion at 5.5 percent annualized growth, comes almost entirely from data centers.”

PEC is a sponsor of Town Crier Productions but does not participate in editorial decisions.

For additional information:

• Amazon and Google have plans for fueling their data centers: Nuclear power, CBS News, October 16, 2024
• Amazon.com joins push for nuclear power to meet data center demand, Timothy Gardner, October 16, 2024
• Amazon, Google dueling nuclear investments to power data centers with clean energy, ABC News, October 16, 2024

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