LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania — The former Three Mile Island plant, the site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, could be restarted as soon as 2027, executives said Wednesday, largely thanks to the shuttered nuclear facility’s partnership with Big Tech.
The restart efforts for the central Pennsylvanian plant, which was renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center, have been led by Constellation Energy and Microsoft to help meet rising energy demands brought on by artificial intelligence and other tech advancements.
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The two companies announced their plans to reopen the plant in September last year, saying they intended to have it operational by 2028, pending federal approval.
That timeline has since been cut by a full year, with Constellation President and CEO Joe Dominguez saying Wednesday the plant could be up and running as early as 2027.
The shortened timeline can be attributed to significant progress in hiring more than 64% of the necessary full-time employees, training new licensed reactor operators, purchasing critical equipment, and a critical approval of an early interconnection request from grid operation PJM Interconnection.
“Today we begin a new chapter for reliable, emissions-free nuclear energy, returning thousands of good jobs and billions in economic opportunities for Pennsylvania families and businesses,” Dominguez said during an event at the nuclear plant celebrating the restart efforts.
Constellation has also pointed to Microsoft’s major investments in the project as one reason Pennsylvania could see the plant reopened much faster than initially anticipated.
Dominguez said the utility plans to use AI to help streamline the plant’s operations, such as monitoring ongoing and future maintenance. He said Constellation intends to then use Microsoft’s AI capabilities across all its other nuclear facilities.
“For the first time, I think we’re going to be able to demonstrate the application of AI to make the plant more efficient and safer,” Dominguez said, insisting that this integration of AI will help make it the most advanced nuclear plant in the United States once it is up and running.
Bobby Hollis, Microsoft’s vice president of energy, solidified the company’s commitment to Constellation and reopening the shuttered plant on Wednesday, saying it will remain a part of the tech company’s energy portfolio long term.
In September, the two companies entered a 20-year agreement to purchase energy produced by the nuclear facility to meet Microsoft’s goal of matching the energy its data centers consume with carbon-free energy.
Recent support for increased nuclear energy comes as AI and large-load data centers continue to drive energy demand nationwide. In 2024, AI data centers were estimated to consume around four gigawatts of electricity in the U.S. In March, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the usage rate will swell to 84 gigawatts in just five years.
Three Mile Island experienced a partial meltdown of its Unit 2 reactor in March 1979.
The accident, caused by equipment failure and human error, did not cause any immediate deaths or injuries from radiation exposure in the region, and the facility’s Unit 1 reactor continued to operate until 2019.
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If the reopening is approved by federal regulators on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the plant will be the second decommissioned nuclear plant to come back online in the U.S.
As of June, no nuclear plant has restarted service after being shut down. However, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in western Michigan is anticipated to come back online by the end of this year.