Three Mile Island's Clean Energy Comeback Fueled by Tech Giant Demand
Felicity Bradstock

Three Mile Island, the site of one of the world’s most famous nuclear accidents, is set to reopen several years after its closure. On September 20th, Baltimore-based Constellation Energy and Microsoft announced that they had reached a deal that would mean the reopening of the 835 MW Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Unit 2 has been shut down since its partial core meltdown in 1979 and is currently being decommissioned. However, as Unit 1 was not damaged during the accident, it continued operating until 2019, when it eventually closed for financial reasons. 

At 4 am on March 28, 1979, an automatically operated valve in the Unit 2 reactor mistakenly closed, which shut off the water supply to the main feedwater system – the system that transfers heat from the water circulating in the reactor core. This prompted the reactor core to shut down automatically. However, a series of equipment and instrument malfunctions, human errors in operating procedures, and mistaken decisions over several hours led to major water coolant loss from the reactor core, which resulted in a partial core meltdown.

Constellation expects the refurbishment of the plant to cost around $1.6 billion. When operational, Three Mile Island is capable of powering over 700,000 homes and employs around 700 or more people. Microsoft has signed an agreement to buy the facility’s entire output for twenty years, for $800 million a year. Following the announcement, Constellation’s stock rose 22 percent.

The nuclear company hopes the plant will be ready to relaunch in 2028. To achieve this, the firm must gain approvals from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the PJM grid manager for transmission access. The site’s name will be changed to the Crane Energy Centre, and it is expected to receive a license to extend operations to 2053.

For decades, following three prominent nuclear disasters – Three Mile Island, Chornobyl, and Fukushima, the public perception of nuclear plants was extremely poor. People worried that the accidents of the past could happen again, and they might be even worse next time. However, thanks to improvements to nuclear safety and the strengthening of international industry regulations in recent years, people are once again seeing the potential for nuclear power, particularly as part of a green transition. 

Joseph Dominguez, the CEO of Constellation Energy, is confident that the company will get Three Mile Island back up and running. Dominguez stated, “Twelve months from now, Constellation will have started on the path towards building new reactors.” This move has the potential to wave in a new nuclear era, as no reactor that was set to close permanently has been brought back online in the U.S. before. In addition, only three new reactors have been developed in the past 25 years. 

Nuclear power continues to contribute around 19 percent of the U.S. electricity mix, and it is increasingly being viewed as the best clean energy source for meeting the rising electricity demand spurred by the rollout of complex technologies, such as artificial intelligence. Just like Microsoft, other tech giants are looking to work with nuclear energy companies to ensure their access to abundant clean energy to power operations. Google and Amazon recently struck deals with start-ups developing smaller nuclear reactors, in the hope that they will provide them with clean power by the 2030s. 

Microsoft committed to being “carbon negative” by 2030, but its emissions rose by 29 percent between 2020 and 2023. The growing demand for electricity to power data centres is making it increasingly difficult for tech companies to stick to their ambitious climate pledges. While many are increasingly using renewable energy sources to power operations, they require such vast amounts of energy that nuclear power would make a much bigger dent in the demands of these companies. 

In mid-October, Constellation ordered a $100-million main power transformer to support the reopening of Three Mile Island. The transformer is expected to be the largest single piece of equipment needed to be replaced to restart the plant. Other major renovation investments include the reactor's turbine, generator, and cooling systems. 

Despite being mainly untouched since it shut down in 2019, the plant is said to be well-maintained. Constellation’s Vice President of Generation, Bryan Hanson, stated, “I have walked the facility top to bottom, every floor… The plant is in great condition.” The company believes that the reactor vessel does not require any repairs, and the steam generators, which can be very costly, were replaced about 15 years ago. 

The renovation and planned reopening of Three Mile Island could wave in a new nuclear era in the U.S., encouraged largely by the increase in electricity demand brought about by the commercial deployment of advanced technologies. As U.S. companies aim to decarbonise operations, they are looking for innovative ways to ensure a steady supply of clean electricity to support data centre operations, and nuclear energy companies are more than happy to support the reinvigoration of the nuclear power sector. 

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

 

 

Felicity Bradstock is a freelance writer specialising in Energy and Finance. She has a Master’s in International Development from the University of Birmingham, UK.

 

 

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