NNSA Picks Amentum to Negotiate a 1 GW AI Data Center With 2 GW of Onsite Power at Savannah River
- AI Energy Demand Data Centers News
Marin Holt
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- 7 minutes read
- AI data center: 1 GW
- Onsite generation: 2 GW
- Advanced reactor clock: 30 months
- Federal sites screened: 16
The National Nuclear Security Administration has picked Amentum to negotiate a phased lease at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The plan puts a 1 GW artificial intelligence data center on the federal reservation. The agency announced the choice on July 20, 2026. About 2 GW of dedicated onsite generation would feed the campus. That generation starts on natural gas and shifts to advanced nuclear later. NNSA sits inside the Department of Energy. The Virginia firm Amentum won the slot through a competitive request for proposals.
What NNSA Actually Handed Over
Read the announcement carefully. NNSA selected Amentum to enter negotiations, not to build. The agency states plainly that selection does not constitute a final lease award. Any deal still faces permitting, safety and security evaluations, and further federal approvals. Neither the NNSA release nor the Amentum release carried a dollar figure.
The Power Plan
The 2 GW generation block is the part energy buyers should track. Amentum leads a consortium. DC BLOX serves as primary digital infrastructure partner and lead developer. Milliken, Google and Nucor sit as founding members of the Palmetto Nuclear Coalition attached to the effort.
Gas turbines carry the early load. Advanced reactors take over on a schedule set by Executive Order 14299. That order sets a 30-month clock for a commercial advanced reactor on site. The clock runs from the order’s May 2025 issue date, so the arithmetic lands in late 2027.
Why It Matters
DOE named 16 candidate federal sites in April 2025. Savannah River is one of four that moved forward. Idaho National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Reservation and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant fill the other three slots. The pattern matters more than any single campus. Federal land carries existing transmission, existing security and a permitting path that greenfield sites lack. Put 2 GW behind the fence and the load never enters a utility interconnection queue.
Hold the nuclear half at a distance. The 30-month reactor clock is an executive target, not a construction schedule. No commercial advanced reactor in the United States has ever hit that pace. The gas turbines are the real near-term resource. Two gigawatts of them is a mid-size fleet on its own. Treat the nuclear step as stated intent until a reactor vendor, a design and a permit application reach the record.
Critical Perspective
Amentum holds a lease to negotiate, not a signed lease, and the 2 GW of onsite generation still has no named turbine supplier and no reactor vendor. The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant reached the same DOE shortlist and drew a $100 billion NextEra proposal, which shows how fast these federal sites attract announcements that outrun permits. Executive Order 14299 sets a 30-month clock for a commercial advanced reactor on site, a pace no US commercial reactor has come near, with the Vogtle AP1000 units finishing years behind schedule. If the reactors slip, does the Savannah River campus simply keep burning 2 GW of gas inside a federal reservation that state siting review does not reach?
Sources
- DOE / NNSA: NNSA Selects Amentum for AI Data Center and Energy Project at Savannah River Site
- Amentum: Selected for the Department of Energy AI Data Center and Energy Generation Project
- Nuclear Engineering International: Amentum to develop SRS AI campus
- Microgrid Knowledge: Amentum to Develop Co-Located AI Data Center and Power Infrastructure at Savannah River National Laboratory
