Norma Field runs under power lines that exit the nuclear plant at Three Mile Island (TMI), an operational plant run by Exelon Generation, in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP Getty Images
Constellation Energy plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and will sell power to Microsoft, showing the huge need for power from the technology sector as they build out data centers to support artificial intelligence.
Constellation expects the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island near Middletown, Pennsylvania, to come back online in 2028, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company announced Friday. Constellation also plans to extend the plant’s operations until at least 2054.
Constellation shares rose more than 9% in early trading.
Microsoft will buy electricity from factories to match the energy consumed by the data center with carbon-free power. Constellation described the agreement with Microsoft as the largest power purchase agreement a nuclear plant operator has ever signed.
“The decision here is the most powerful symbol yet of the resurgence of nuclear power as a clean and reliable source of energy,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez told investors on a call Monday morning.
Unit 1 ceased operations in 2019 as nuclear power struggles to compete economically with natural gas and cheap renewables. It was separated from the reactor that was partially destroyed in 1979 in the worst nuclear accident in US history.
Constellation will rename the plant Crane Clean Energy Center.
Electricity demand from data centers is expected to increase in the coming decades as the technology sector increases artificial intelligence, threatening to disrupt the power grid. While estimates vary, Goldman Sachs has predicted that data centers will consume 8% of total US electricity demand in 2030, compared to 3% today.
Demand for power is also rising from the expansion of domestic manufacturing and the adoption of electric vehicles. Rystad Energy has forecast data centers and electric vehicles alone will add 290 terawatt hours of electricity demand by the end of the decade, equal to the consumption of the entire nation of Turkey.
Tech companies are chasing nuclear power to meet growing electricity needs while meeting climate targets. In March, Amazon Web Services buy data center campus from Talen Energy that will be powered by the Susquehanna nuclear plant, also in Pennsylvania, in a first-of-its-kind deal. Oracle recently said it is planning a data center that will be powered by three small nuclear reactors.
There is much bipartisan support from the federal and state governments to revive the nuclear industry after shutting down reactors for a decade.
Three Mile Island will be the second nuclear plant to restart operations in US history. The Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan will be the first, with the plant expected to return to service by the end of 2025.
