Sacrament: Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a groundbreaking deal to reopen the partially melted down Three Mile Island nuclear plant, with the tech giant purchasing all power for 20 years after the restart.
The deal marked the first time a decommissioned U.S. nuclear plant was put back into service and the first time the entire output of a commercial nuclear power plant was assigned to one customer, Xinhua news agency reported.
The deal was intended to meet the growing energy needs of Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) operations while also restarting the infamous Pennsylvania facility, the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history.
Constellation Energy, the plant’s owner, had planned to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 in 2028 at a cost of about $1.6 billion. The unit sits next to the reactor that suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, an event that sent the country into panic and dealt a blow to the nuclear industry.
“The nuclear plant should never have been allowed to close,” Constellation CEO Joseph Dominguez said in a news release. He added that the nuclear plant would produce as much clean energy as all the renewables built in Pennsylvania over the past 30 years.
The restarted facility would provide Microsoft with 835 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to powering about 800,000 homes.
According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, on March 28, 1979, the reactor core of Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island plant partially melted down when equipment failures, compounded by human operator error, caused a water pump failure that resulted in a loss of coolant to the reactor.
The partial meltdown resulted in the release of radioactive gases and iodine into the environment, although there were no deaths or injuries directly related to the incident. Unit 2 remains sealed, with its highly radioactive core encased in concrete.
The Three Mile Island restart is part of a broader trend of tech companies seeking reliable, emissions-free power sources to support their expanding data centers and artificial intelligence technologies.
But Microsoft’s plan has faced significant regulatory hurdles and public skepticism. Constellation must pass intensive safety inspections by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has never before authorized the reopening of a nuclear plant. The company expects the review process to be completed by 2027.
The deal also raised questions about the use of federal subsidies, as the project relies heavily on tax breaks earmarked for nuclear power in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Critics argued that using public funds to benefit a single private company may be inappropriate.
Reactions on social media to the news were mixed.
One commenter on the Washington Post website sarcastically suggested: “Fine, as long as the waste is sent to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.”
Another Verge user expressed concern about the broader implications: “The potential energy demand appears to be so large that it will delay the transition to carbon-free energy (here in the US) and not by a long shot… It seems like a law saying all electricity for AI and crypto farms in the US has to be carbon-free is in order.”
Some community leaders welcomed the potential economic recovery; a study funded by the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Board projected the creation of 3,400 jobs and $3 billion in state and federal taxes.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro expressed his support, saying the plant “will safely utilize existing infrastructure to sustain and expand nuclear power in the Commonwealth while creating thousands of energy sector jobs,” according to a Constellation news release.
Nuclear safety advocates, however, have expressed alarm.
Henry Sokolski, a former deputy for nonproliferation policy at the Pentagon, criticized the use of public subsidies, telling the Washington Post: “Microsoft says it will buy all of Three Mile Island’s nuclear power, but it wants taxpayers to pay for the plant’s refurbishment.”
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