为了给其印第安纳州数据中心提供充足的电力，亚马逊正在资助开发一个新的核设施，该设施将提供近1吉瓦的电力。然而，由于其使用的技术尚不成熟，我们还需要看看这是否会在不久的将来实现。亚马逊周一表示，它正以未披露的现金数额资助该项目，作为其与下一代核能初创公司X-energy现有协议扩展的一部分。
To feed its Indiana datacenters with plenty of juice, Amazon is funding the development of a new nuclear facility that will provide nearly 1 gigawatt of power. However, we'll have to see if this happens anytime soon, given the immature technology it's using. Amazon said on Monday that it was funding the project with an undisclosed amount of cash as part of an expansion of its existing deal with X-energy, a next-generation nuclear power startup focusing on building small modular reactors (SMRs) powered by Tri-Structural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel pellets and cooled by helium gas.
X-energy专注于建造由三结构各向同性（TRISO）燃料颗粒驱动、并由氦气冷却的小型模块化反应堆（SMRs）。亚马逊仅表示，它正“在核能项目上投资数十亿美元”，但未就此项目提供具体细节。根据X-energy的说法，该项目将看到亚马逊资助在印第安纳州沙利文县前燃煤电厂址上开发12台其Xe-100型SMR。一旦投入运行，该设施将供应960兆瓦的并网电力，亚马逊将作为未来电厂的首批电力购买方。
Amazon would tell us only that it’s “investing billions in nuclear energy projects” without getting specific on this project. According to X-energy, the project will see Amazon fund the development of 12 of those SMRs, its Xe-100 model, in Sullivan County, Indiana, at the site of a former coal power plant. Once up and running, the facility will supply 960 megawatts of grid-connected electricity, with Amazon contracting as the first power purchaser from the future plant.
至于它何时可能投入运行，那就没人能说了。亚马逊没有透露，只是指向了印第安纳州报纸《南本德论坛报》的一篇文章，其中一位X-energy代表称该项目可能“早在2030年代中期就能完工”，尽管“随着项目的进一步发展，时间表可能会发生变化”。考虑到X-energy的现状以及次世代核能的总体发展情况，这种可能性相当大。
As for when it might come online, that’s anyone’s guess. Amazon wouldn’t tell us, only pointing us to an article in Indiana newspaper the South Bend Tribune in which an X-energy representative said it could be completed “as early as the mid-2030s,” though “the timeline could change the further the project gets developed.”That’s quite likely given X-energy’s current status and the state of next-generation nuclear power more generally, and to understand why it helps to understand how nuclear permitting works in the US.
要理解原因，有必要了解美国的核许可流程是如何运作的。首先，尽管科技行业在核能上做出了承诺、制造了炒作并投入了巨额资金，但美国尚未建成一台可运行的SMR。中国和俄罗斯已经建成了功能性的SMR。美国只有一台实验装置实现了临界状态，但它不是一个功能性的、发电的反应堆，仅是为了证明某种特定设计有可能实现这一目标而建造的。
First off, despite the promises, hype, and mountains of cash poured into nuclear power by the tech industry, the US has yet to build a single operable SMR. China and Russia have built functional SMRs. A single experimental unit has achieved criticality in the US, but it’s not a functional, power-producing reactor and was only built to demonstrate the ability for a specific design to become one.
拥有该实验性美国小型模块化反应堆（SMR）的公司不是X-energy，该公司尚未建造出一个可运行的反应堆。至于美国的反应堆如何获批，核能公司可以走两条途径：一是从美国核管理委员会（NRC）获得标准设计批准。这一途径赋予公司在任何地点建造特定型号反应堆的许可证，因为该设计已被认定为独立于任何具体场地的安全设计。
The company with that experimental US SMR is not X-energy, who has yet to build a working reactor. As to how reactors get approved in the US, there are two pathways that nuclear power companies can pursue: One is to get a standard design approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). That pathway gives a company license to build a reactor of a specific model wherever they want, as the design has been deemed safe independent of any physical site.
这意味着经过认证的反应堆可以被出售和建造，而无需每次项目启动时由NRC重新认证核心设计。在美国，只有Nuscale一家公司获得了SMR的标准设计批准，但该公司尚未建造任何反应堆，也没有在建项目，且由于电力分配商缺乏兴趣，已放弃犹他州的一个厂址。另一种途径允许SMR开发商为特定场地的项目获批，这更快捷，涉及NRC对特定地点特定反应堆的批准。
That means the certified reactor can be sold and built without the need for the NRC to recertify the core design each time a project gets underway. There is only one company in the US that has a standard design approval for an SMR: Nuscale, which has yet to build a single reactor, has no projects under construction, and has already abandoned a Utah plant due to lack of interest from power distributors. The other option allows SMR developers to get approval for a site-specific project, which is quicker and involves the NRC blessing a particular reactor in a particular place.
已有多项此类许可证被批准，例如Kairos Power获准在田纳西州橡树岭与谷歌合作建造SMR，通用电气计划在橡树岭建另一座SMR，TerraPower则尽管遇到延迟，仍在怀俄明州稳步推进其自身项目。值得注意的是，X-energy也未在此列被提及。该公司声称其正处于“最终阶段”，正在德克萨斯州申请施工许可证，届时将为道化学制造厂供电，但这可能对印第安纳州项目的时间表影响不大。
There have been several of those permits awarded, with Kairos Power being approved to build an SMR in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in partnership with Google, General Electric planning another SMR in Oak Ridge, and TerraPower inching forward with its own project in Wyoming despite delays. Notice X-energy isn’t mentioned there, either. The company claims that it’s in “the final phases” of NRC approval for a construction permit in Texas, where it’ll supply power for a Dow Chemical manufacturing plant, but that likely won’t matter too much for the Indiana project’s timeline.
如前所述，核建设许可证是特定于场地的，而德克萨斯州的厂址仅涉及四座反应堆——远少于印第安纳州计划的12座。X-energy未对此故事的提问作出回应，但亚马逊告诉我们，它不会以任何方式参与印第安纳州厂址审批的最终通过过程。
As mentioned above, nuclear construction permits are site specific, and the Texas plant only involves four reactors - far fewer than the 12 planned in Indiana. X-energy didn’t respond to questions for this story, but Amazon told us it's not going to be involved in any way with getting approval across the finish line for the Indiana plant.
“亚马逊的角色是作为投资者……以及承诺成为该设施所生产电力的首批客户，”一位公司发言人告诉我们。“像这样的新技术通常需要初始客户来帮助降低项目风险并提供资金，以便它们能够建成并规模化以实现商业化可用性，而亚马逊正是通过帮助为项目开发提供资金来发挥这一作用。”就像其他大型、雄心勃勃的下一代核能项目一样，换句话说，这个项目也和其他项目一样，处于“可能”这一栏中。®
“Amazon's role is as an investor … as well as committing to being the first customer for power produced from the facility,” a company spokesperson told us. “New technologies like this often need initial customers to help de-risk projects and provide funding so they can be built and scaled to commercial availability, and that is the role Amazon is playing by helping to fund the project's development.”Like other large, ambitious next-generation nuclear projects, in other words, this one is just as much in the maybe column as the rest. ®