Rob Luna Enterprise CEO Rob Luna discusses the need for nuclear energy amid increased power demand on ‘Making Money.’
Constellation Energy Corporation’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant is expected to restart a year sooner than originally planned.
The Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor may restart in 2027, a year earlier than the initial 2028 timeline Constellation provided in September when it announced a power purchase agreement with Microsoft that the energy company said at the time would “pave the way” for it coming back online.
Two massive cooling towers being rehabilitated for nuclear power generation under Microsoft at Crane Clean Energy Center, previously known as Three Mile Island, can be seen from across the Susquehanna River on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 in Middletown, (Wesley Lapointe for The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The reactor, a separate facility from the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor that suffered a partial meltdown in the late 1970s, has not operated since 2019, when it was taken offline for economic reasons. It is being renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center.
MICROSOFT DEAL WOULD REOPEN PENNSYLVANIA NUCLEAR PLANT, SITE OF 1979 PARTIAL MELTDOWN, TO POWER AI
The power purchase agreement with Microsoft that is facilitating the Three Mile Island restart spans 20 years. The electricity that Microsoft is set to buy from the nuclear plant will help meet the power demands of its data centers, Constellation has said.
The shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, located in the middle of the Susquehanna River, in Middletown, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 16, 2024. (Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Microsoft and other tech companies have been looking to nuclear energy – from traditional reactors or future smaller advanced reactors – for electricity as they continue to ramp up their artificial intelligence efforts.
NUCLEAR ENERGY UNDERGOING REVIVAL IN UNITED STATES
Both AI and the data centers they rely on require large amounts of electricity. The International Energy Administration forecasted earlier this year that U.S. electricity consumption from AI and data centers will soar 130% from 2024 to 2030.
AMERICA’S POWER GRID FACES UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES AS AI AND CRYPTO DRIVE DEMAND SKYWARD
Constellation, which bought TMI Unit 1 in 1999, has said the Crane Clean Energy Center will bring roughly 835 megawatts of electricity to the grid once back online.
The shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, located in the middle of the Susquehanna River, in Middletown, Pennsylvania, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The reactor’s restart is projected to lead to 3,400 direct and indirect jobs and give Pennsylvania’s gross domestic product a $16 billion boost, the energy company has said, citing an independent economic impact study.