HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Constellation Energy announced on Friday its plans to restart the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant under a 20-year agreement to supply carbon-free energy to Microsoft’s data centers.
This development comes five years after Exelon, Constellation’s former parent company, shut down the plant due to financial losses. Located on an island in the Susquehanna River just outside Harrisburg, Three Mile Island was the site of the worst commercial nuclear power accident in U.S. history in 1979, which destroyed Reactor Unit 2 and left Unit 1 as the only functioning reactor.
FILE – Shown are the unit 2 cooling towers at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pa., Monday, May 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS
The agreement is part of Microsoft’s goal to become “carbon negative” by 2030. Constellation aims to bring Unit 1 online by 2028 and is pursuing a license renewal to extend the plant’s operation at least until 2054. However, the restart of Unit 1 will require approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, along with necessary permits from state and local agencies.
Significant investments are needed to restore the plant, including upgrades to the turbine, generator, main power transformer, and cooling and control systems.
This initiative aligns with a broader push by the Biden administration, states, and utilities to reassess nuclear power as a means to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.
Last year, Georgia Power began producing electricity from the first newly constructed American nuclear reactor in decades, following a long hiatus triggered by the Three Mile Island incident.
FILE – Shown are the unit 2 cooling towers at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pa., Monday, May 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS
While Microsoft and Constellation did not disclose the financial terms of their agreement, Constellation noted that prior to its shutdown in 2019, Unit 1 had a generating capacity of 837 megawatts, sufficient to power over 800,000 homes.
Unit 2 remains sealed, with its cooling towers still standing. The reactor’s core was transported years ago to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, and the remaining materials inside the containment building are highly radioactive and encased in concrete.