Putting compute and generation on one site
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration selected Amentum to negotiate a phased lease for an AI infrastructure and energy project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The proposal combines a 1GW AI data center with approximately 2GW of on-site generation.
DOE says the planned generation would use natural gas as a bridge to nuclear energy. The policy objective is to supply the data center with dedicated generation, make additional power available to the grid, and avoid shifting infrastructure costs to existing electricity customers.
A different infrastructure model
The project treats generation and transmission as part of the data-center plan instead of connecting a large new load to the existing grid in isolation. As interconnection queues and local cost allocation become contentious, the federal-land and private-capital structure is an attempt to accelerate both compute and energy construction.
Not a final project award
NNSA selected a party for negotiations, not a completed lease. Successful negotiations, permitting, nuclear safety and security reviews, and other federal approvals remain. The announcement does not yet specify the timing of the gas-to-nuclear transition, detailed generation technology, cost, water use, or transmission terms. The 1GW and 2GW figures should therefore not be treated as operating capacity.