Amazon Web Services (AWS) has reaffirmed its commitment to building a data center campus next to the Susquehanna nuclear power station despite its proposed interconnection service agreement (ISA) for the project being rejected.

According to a Bloomberg report, AWS intends to proceed with the project and "continue innovating and advancing carbon-free energy solutions" with companies like Talen to help power data centers across the US.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected the ISA last week. The proposal aimed to revise an ISA involving PJM, the regional grid operator Susquehanna Nuclear, which owns the power plant, and transmission owner PPL Corp. The amendment would boost the data center's shared power demand from 300MW to 480MW.

In rejecting the amended proposal, FERC stated that PJM had not provided sufficient justification for the nonstandard provisions allowing a “unique” arrangement for the data center.

FERC members determined that the ISA could potentially raise public power bills and affect the grid's reliability.

AWS acquired the 960MW data center campus from Talen Energy in March in a $650 million deal. The company broke ground in 2021 and completed the first 48MW, 300,000 square foot (28,870 sqm) hyperscale facility early last year, along with a separate cryptomine facility.

AWS joins Constellation in doubling down on its commitment to nuclear following the FERC ruling. Constellation CEO Joseph Dominguez, in a Q3 earnings call, expressed confidence that the ruling would not scupper future colocation plans, arguing: "colocation in competitive markets remains one of the best ways for the US to quickly build the large data centers necessary to lead on AI.”

In addition to the Susquehanna nuclear plant-aligned data center, AWS has made several commitments to the small modular reactor (SMR) sector.

In October, AWS signed three SMR deals across the US with Energy Northwest, X-energy, and Dominion Virginia. The deals will support the development of five SMRs across Washington and Virginia and direct investment in X-energy, whose reactor design will be deployed in Washington as part of the agreement with Energy Northwest.

AWS also continues to be on the lookout for a new principal of nuclear power solutions to head the firm's efforts in nuclear energy procurement and development.