Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities announced Wednesday they are partnering with Maryland-based X-energy to explore bringing small modular nuclear reactors to Kentucky, according to the Kentucky Lantern. The collaboration aims to deploy X-energy's Xe-100 small modular reactors to meet growing energy demand across the Commonwealth with long-term, reliable, clean energy.

The companies have begun early project feasibility activities and will explore opportunities for SMR deployments to support long-term grid reliability across the Commonwealth, and large load customers, including data centers. The Xe-100 is an 80 megawatt high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that can be deployed in either four- or twelve-unit plants depending on grid requirements: a four-unit plant delivers 320 MWe for regional utilities and large load customers, while a twelve-unit plant provides gigawatt-scale power for larger metropolitan areas.

The partnership comes as recent significant interest in nuclear energy in the Bluegrass State has emerged as a reliable option for baseload power generation. Kentucky must boost its energy production by 10-15 percent over the next couple of years to remain economically competitive, especially amid the influx of data centers and artificial intelligence, according to state leaders. Rising power-hungry data centers are increasingly seeking carbon-free energy sources to power their operations.

In April, Governor Andy Beshear signed into law the Nuclear Reactor Site Readiness Pilot Program passed by the General Assembly, which includes a $75-million grant initiative to support nuclear site feasibility studies, applications for early site and construction permitting, and licensing, with three projects to be selected to receive up to $25 million each. The legislation allows a regulated utility to apply to the Public Service Commission for the recovery of costs, which are not covered in the existing rates of the utility, that have been incurred in applying for such permitting and licensing for sites in the Commonwealth.

LG&E and KU President John Crockett called the Xe-100 reactor "one of the safest nuclear designs on the market" and said he looked forward to working with X-energy on this effort and participating in the grant program. X-energy is currently developing more than 11 GW of new nuclear capacity across projects in the United States and United Kingdom, including partnerships with Dow Chemical, Amazon, and Centrica.