On October 16th local time, Amazon announced that it will invest over $500 million to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to meet the huge demand for clean energy when expanding its cloud computing services to generative AI, and as part of achieving net zero carbon emissions. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has reached an agreement with Virginia utility Dominion Energy to explore the development of SMR near the existing North Anna nuclear power plant. SMR has a smaller footprint, faster construction time, and the ability to connect to the power grid more quickly. Amazon has also reached an agreement with Energy Northwest to fund the development of four SMRs in Washington state, which will directly supply power to the grid and help meet the energy needs of Amazon's operations. Amazon's Climate Commitment Fund also led a $500 million funding round for X-energy, a developer of SMR and fuels. US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm stated that the government will provide $900 million in new funding to deploy more SMRs.