A rendering of the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility. | Image: X-energy via Amazon
Amazon shared some new details about its plans to help deploy more nuclear energy across Washington State, where the company is headquartered.
About a year ago, Amazon announced an agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of public utilities in Washington, to support the development of up to 12 advanced reactors by the early 2030s. Once complete, Amazon would have the right to purchase electricity from the first 320-megawatt phase of the project. The additional capacity would be open to Amazon and local utilities to use.
What’s different about these reactors is that they’re small and modular, which is supposed to make them cheaper and easier to deploy than America’s existing fleet of nuclear power plants. Amazon shared several rendered images today of what the first plant might look like outside of Richland, Washington. Called the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility, it’ll include three sections with a combined capacity of 960 megawatts, about enough electricity to power 770,000 homes in the US. While an old-school reactor with about the same capacity might spread across more than a square mile of land, according to Amazon, Cascade is expected to take up just a few city blocks.
Amazon’s blog post today says that the Cascade facility should create about 100 permanent jobs, as well as more than 1,000 construction jobs. Considering these next-generation reactors are still under development and have to go through a licensing process, construction isn’t expected to start until the end of the decade.
<img src="https://www.mtlblog.com/media-library/the-sun-rises-over-the-montreal-skyline.jpg?id=56590492&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C12%2C0%2C12"/><br/><br/><p>Quebec, get ready to be tired and confused. Daylight saving time (DST) is about to mess with your sleep again.</p><p>But if you've had enough of winter's short, dark days, there's a silver lining: longer, warmer evenings are upon us. Before you get too excited, though, you'll have to deal with the yearly inconvenience that comes with it. </p><h3>When does Quebec's time change?</h3><br/><p>Quebec's daylight saving time change happens in the early hours of Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 2 a.m., when clocks jump ahead by an hour to 3 a.m. If you're out late, bars will stop serving alcohol an hour earlier — no exceptions. And if you're asleep, well, you'll wake up with an hour less rest.</p><p>While losing out on precious rest isn't exactly thrilling, there's a literal bright side — more daylight in the evening means extra time to enjoy the sun after work and soak up some much-needed Vitamin D. And if you're <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/quebec-weather-spring-forecast" target="_blank">counting down to spring</a>, mark your calendar: it officially arrives on March 20.</p><h3>Why do we change the clocks?</h3><br/><p>The idea behind daylight saving time is simple: maximize natural daylight and reduce energy use. </p><p>By shifting the clocks forward in the spring, evenings stay brighter longer, reducing reliance on artificial lighting and heating. <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/history.html" target="_blank">Canada was one of the first countries to adopt the practice</a>, with Thunder Bay, Ontario, implementing it in 1908. Originally, this was meant to save energy, especially before modern electricity use became widespread. </p><p>Since then, most provinces and territories have followed suit, adjusting their clocks twice a year. But not everyone is convinced it's necessary, with critics pointing out the disruption to sleep and the dark mornings it creates in winter.</p><h3>Is daylight saving time here to stay?</h3><br/><p>Quebec has explored scrapping DST altogether. In October 2024, the <a href="https://www.narcity.com/fr/abolition-changement-heure-quebec-gouvernement-passe-prochaine-etape" target="_blank">government launched a public poll</a> to see whether residents wanted to stick to one time year-round, like Saskatchewan and the Yukon. </p><p>For now, though, daylight saving time remains. After this month's spring forward, you'll have to wait until November 2, 2025, to fall back when clocks go back an hour, giving you a little extra sleep. </p><p>Until then, get ready for brighter evenings — and maybe set a reminder so you don't accidentally show up an hour late to everything.</p><p><br/><span></span></p><p><br/></p><em>Love this? Check out our <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/notices/" target="_blank">MTL Blog noticeboard</a> for details on jobs, benefits, travel info and more!</em><p><br/></p><p><br/></p><em>AI tools may have been used to support the creation or distribution of this content; however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of MTL Blog's Editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/editorial-standards" target="_blank">Editorial Standards page</a>.</em><p><br/></p>
