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Unit 2 at Three Mile Island operated for just a few months before the accident, in March 1979. At the time, Unit 1 was down for refueling. That reactor started back up, to some controversy, in the
mid-1980s and produced enough electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes in the area for more than 30 years.
Eventually, though, the plant faced economic struggles. Even though it was operating at? relatively high efficiency and with low costs, it was driven out of business by record low prices for natural
gas and the introduction of relatively cheap, subsidized renewable energy to the grid, says Patrick White, research director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit think tank.?
That situation has shifted in just the past few years, White says. There¡¯s more money available now for nuclear, including new technology-agnostic tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. And
there¡¯s also rising concern about the increased energy demand on the power grid, in part from tech giants looking to power data centers like those needed to run AI.
In announcing its , Constellation Energy, the owner of Three Mile Island Unit 1, also shared that the plant is getting a rebrand¡ªthe site will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. (Not sure if that one¡¯s going to
stick.)??
The confluence of the particular location of this reactor and the fact that the electricity will go to power data centers (and other infrastructure) makes this whole announcement instantly attention-grabbing.
As put it, ¡°Microsoft AI Needs So Much Power It's Tapping Site of US Nuclear Meltdown.¡±
For some people in climate circles, this deal makes a lot of sense. Nuclear power remains one of the most expensive forms of electricity today. But experts say it could play a crucial role on the
grid, since the plants typically put out a consistent amount of electricity¡ªit¡¯s often referred to as ¡°firm power,¡± in contrast with renewables like wind and solar that are intermittently available.
Without guaranteed money there¡¯s a chance this reactor would simply have been decommissioned as planned. Reopening
plants that shuttered recently could provide an opportunity to get the benefits of nuclear power without having to build an entirely new project.?
In March, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan got a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy¡¯s Loan Programs Office to the tune of over $1.5 billion to help restart. Palisades shut down
in 2022, and the site¡¯s owner says it hopes to get it back online by late 2025. It will be the first shuttered reactor in the US to come back online, if everything goes as planned. (For more details, check out my story from.)?
Three Mile Island may not be far behind¡ªConstellation says the reactor could be running again by 2028. (Interestingly, the facility will need to separately undergo a relicensing process in just
a few years, as it¡¯s currently only licensed to run through 2034. A standard 20-year extension could have it running until 2054.)
If Three Mile Island comes back online, Microsoft will be the one benefiting, as its long-term power purchase agreement would secure it enough energy to power roughly 800,000 homes every
year. Except in this case, it¡¯ll be used to help run the company¡¯s massive data center infrastructure in the region.
This isn¡¯t the first recent sign Big Tech is jumping in on nuclear power: Earlier this year, Amazon right next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, also in Pennsylvania.
While Amazon will use only part of the output of the Susquehanna plant, Microsoft will buy all the power that Three Mile Island produces. That raises the question of who¡¯s paying for what in this
whole arrangement. Ratepayers won¡¯t be expected to shoulder any of the costs to restart the facility, Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez
The company also won¡¯t seek any special subsidies from the state, he added.
However, Dominguez also told the
Post that federal money is key in allowing this project to go forward. Specifically, there are
set aside for existing nuclear plants.?
The company declined to give the
Post a value for the potential tax credits and didn¡¯t respond to my request for comment, but I busted out a calculator and did my own math. Assuming an 835-megawatt plant running at 96.3% capacity
(the figure Constellation gave for the plant¡¯s final year of operation) and a $15-per-megawatt-hour tax credit, that could add up to about $100 million each year, assuming requirements for wages and price are met.
It¡¯ll be interesting to see how much further this trend of restarting plants might go. The Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa is one potential candidate¡ªit shuttered in 2020 after 45 years, and
the site¡¯s owner has? about the potential of reopening.?
Restarting any or all of these three sites could be the latest sign of an approaching nuclear resurgence. Big
tech companies need lots of energy, and bringing old nuclear plants onto the grid¡ªor, better yet, keeping aging ones open¡ªseems to me like a great way to meet demand.
But given the relative rarity of opportunities to snag power from recently closed or closing plants, I think the biggest question for the industry is whether this wave of interest will translate
into building new reactors as well.??
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