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Amazon funds 12 small nuclear reactors at a former coal plant. Where coal once burned, data centers could soon run on nuclear power: Amazon is funding the development of a 960-megawatt nuclear plant in Indiana. Twelve small modular reactors (SMRs) from the start-up X-energy are to be built there, and the utility American Electric Power (AEP) is set to operate the facility. The three companies announced the plan on Monday. Twelve helium-cooled reactors. The site is the grounds of the retired Breed coal plant in Sullivan County, south of the city of Terre Haute. AEP already owns the land. The plan calls for X-energy's Xe-100, a gas-cooled high-temperature reactor with 80 megawatts of output each, which is cooled with helium and uses special spherical fuel elements. Twelve of them add up to almost one gigawatt. The power is to flow into the public grid, and Amazon, as the first buyer, also wants to use it for its data centers. The partners are not saying how much money Amazon is putting into the project. The company is providing development capital that will be paid out in tranches as the project progresses, and, according to the announcement, it will cover its full project costs itself rather than passing them on to other electricity customers. For now, the plant is only a plan: The three partners have signed a joint development agreement to study its feasibility. They have not named a start date for construction or operation. Amazon's big nuclear plan. For Amazon and X-energy, it is their second joint power plant project, and it is three times the size of the first. In October 2024, Amazon led a $700 million (about €625 million) funding round in X-energy and announced a project with the utility Energy Northwest in Washington State. Together, the companies want to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity onto the U.S. grid by 2039. Just a few weeks ago, Amazon also signed a 20-year deal with Constellation for the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland, which is set to increase the plant's output by about 190 megawatts. Amazon is not alone in this strategy. Microsoft is having Constellation restart a reactor at the former Three Mile Island nuclear plant, Google is betting on small reactors from the start-up Kairos Power, and Meta has also secured nuclear power for its A.I. data centers. Behind the rush is the enormous demand for electricity driven by A.I. How quickly such projects can be approved was shown recently by the U.S. nuclear regulator, which cleared the first commercial small modular reactor in the U.S. in Tennessee. The skepticism remains. The timeline is ambitious, though, as TechCrunch points out, because X-energy has not yet built a single reactor. Its first plant, with four Xe-100 units, is set to be built at a site owned by the chemical company Dow in Texas, but construction there has not yet started, and the construction permit is still in the final phase of review. In addition, the state of Texas has sued Dow over alleged violations of environmental rules at the site. There are also more fundamental doubts: The nuclear plants most recently built in the U.S. ran far over budget and behind schedule. The SMR industry hopes that mass production will bring costs down, but experts say it often takes about a decade for such effects to show. On the stock market, the euphoria has already faded: X-energy went public on the Nasdaq in April at $23 (about €20.50) per share, and the stock has since lost almost two-thirds of its value. The Amazon news lifted shares by about 10 percent in premarket trading, but little of that gain held up once regular trading began. Founders Dispatch Europe's Startup Scene, Twice a Week in Your Inbox. Deals, funding rounds and tech trends, curated by the Trending Topics newsroom. Free since 2015. Aus Datenschutz-Gründen ist dieser Inhalt ausgeblendet. Die Einbettung von externen Inhalten kann in den Datenschutz-Einstellungen aktiviert werden:

Middle East chemicals keep their cost edge despite Hormuz crisis. * Middle Eastern petrochemical producers retain a major cost advantage, despite the Iran war disrupting exports and forcing buyers to diversify supplies. * U.S. chemical companies are benefiting from the crisis, with plastics prices surging over 50% and Dow reporting a 27% jump in quarterly plastics segment sales. * - The Gulf's dominance is unlikely to fade, as abundant low-cost feedstocks and massive production capacity keep buyers dependent on the region. Despite the Iran war and the Hormuz crisis, the Middle East's low-cost chemicals production is set to retain its long-term advantage over other regions. Near-term shifts in the sourcing of polymers are taking place due to the current constraints in the Persian Gulf's industrial base, benefiting U.S. chemicals companies. But in the long run, the Middle East is likely to retain its buyers' base because it still has the two levers to be competitive on the global market - an extensive production base and, most of all, low-cost production with abundant naphtha supply, industry analysts and executives tell Reuters. Many buyers have moved to diversify their polymer supply due to the Middle East crisis and the fewer volumes they have received through the Strait of Hormuz since the Iran war began at the end of February. But many customers see the diversification as protection against the current crisis, not a replacement in the long run, as the low prices of the Middle East's polymers trump risks to supply for most. Thus, the cost advantage of the Middle East remains a key driver despite the Hormuz crisis. Related: Global Gas Crunch Makes Europe's Remaining Coal Plants Profitable Buyers continue to base their purchasing decisions on price, Morningstar analyst Christian Flemming told Reuters. Even as supply disruptions have prompted diversification, the current bottlenecks in the Middle East are unlikely to reduce the long-term importance and advantage of the Gulf producers in the polymer markets, a spokesperson for chemicals giant BASF told the publication. The Middle East is the world's biggest exporter of polyethylene, the most used plastic globally. Exports of polyethylene from the Middle East accounted for 43% of all global exports of the polymer last year, data from the International Trader Publications showed earlier this year. The Middle East exported 18.7 million tons out of total global exports of 43.8 million tons in 2025. North America was the second-largest polyethylene exporter last year with 15.6 million tons. Because of secure feedstocks and ample supply, North America is set to fill some of the supply gap amid the Hormuz crisis, according to International Trader Publications. Exports of polymers of propylene (or polypropylene) from the Middle East have been the least affected by the war among 12 key commodities and materials, falling by 24% between April 2025 and April 2026, the UN said in an August analysis. This drop compares with a 54% decline in combined export volumes, a massive 95% slump in LNG exports, an 83% plunge in urea shipments, an 80% slump in methanol, and a 75% crash in ammonia exports from the Middle East. But overall, as a result of the war, the prices of polyethylene and polypropylene, the world's second-most widely used commodity plastic after polyethylene, have jumped by more than 50% since March. Cheap and abundant feedstock amid soaring plastics prices have made U.S. chemicals producers the immediate winners in the global competition as the Iran war is constraining raw materials and capacity in other regions that depend on Middle Eastern supply. Higher-cost Asian petrochemicals manufacturers early this year announced reductions in capacity runs as their naphtha supply was either too expensive or trapped at the Strait of Hormuz. High energy costs continue to pressure the European chemicals industry, which has been rationalizing and idling capacity since the 2022 energy crisis. U.S. giant Dow, for example, reported net sales in the Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment of $6.4 billion for the second quarter, up by 27% from a year earlier. "This was primarily driven by higher polyethylene pricing, which lifted local price by more than 40%," Dow's chief financial officer Jeff Tate said on the Q2 earnings call in July. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Download the free Oilprice app today.

Black Enterprise, Ursula Burns, and Dow CEO Karen S. Carter honored at BECA's 2026 Manifest Awards. Black business leadership took center stage in South Florida as Ursula Burns, Dow CEO Karen S. Carter, Procter & Gamble, and Black Enterprise received top honors at the 2026 BECA Manifest Awards & Symposium. Hosted by BECA, an alliance of senior marketing and marketing-adjacent executives, the event was held Oct. 8 at The St. Regis Bal Harbour in honor of the organization's fifth anniversary. The ceremony recognized executives and organizations whose leadership and contributions have helped shape business and create opportunities for future generations. BLACK ENTERPRISE received the inaugural Beacon of Light Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations whose vision and commitment have made a lasting impact on the Black business community. Earl "Butch" Graves Jr., president and CEO of BE, accepted the award on behalf of the media publication founded by his father, business icon and visionary Earl G. Graves Sr., in 1970. The recognition highlights the publication's longstanding role in documenting Black entrepreneurship, corporate leadership, and wealth creation. For more than five decades, Black Enterprise has covered the people and institutions influencing Black economic advancement. Burns, the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company, received BECA's Icon Award. The former Xerox chairwoman and CEO was recognized for her executive leadership, innovation, and efforts to create opportunities for others. She currently serves as founding partner of Integrum, chairwoman of Teneo and chair of the Ford Foundation's Board of Trustees. Carter received the Trailblazer Award after making history in July as the first Black woman to lead Dow. She joined the materials science company in 1994 and advanced through its leadership ranks, serving as chief operating officer before becoming CEO. The award recognized her professional achievements and commitment to developing future leaders. The gathering brought Burns, Carter, and Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and CEO of TIAA, together in a moment highlighting the significance of Black women's representation in the highest levels of corporate America. According to BECA, the three are among just six Black women to have led Fortune 500 companies. Procter & Gamble received the Corporate Champion Award for its support of leadership development, mentorship, innovation, and community impact. Marchoe Northern, the company's president of North America Fabric Care, accepted the honor on its behalf. Beyond recognizing established executives, the event emphasized the importance of building a pipeline for future leadership. Seventeen participants graduated from BECA's Playbook Class of 2026, the organization's flagship development program designed to prepare emerging marketing executives through mentorship, learning, and professional development. Deloitte co-leads the program. "As we celebrate five years of BECA, I'm incredibly proud of the community we've built and the impact we continue to make together," said Jerri DeVard, Founder and CEO of BECA. "This year's honorees represent the very best of leadership, as individuals and organizations that have broken barriers, opened doors and created opportunities for others to succeed. The Manifest Awards are not only about recognizing extraordinary achievements, but also about inspiring and investing in the next generation of leaders. BECA is about sharing what we know, lifting as we climb and paying it forward." Founded in 2021 by DeVard and 25 C-suite executives, BECA focuses on sharing knowledge, developing future executives and creating a more inclusive pipeline for marketing leadership. Its annual awards bring corporate influence and leadership development into the same conversation.