Three Mile Island, a 3-mile-long nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been closed since 2019. The island is currently scheduled to reopen by 2028 to power Microsoft data centers that serve as the foundation for the tech giant’s AI and cloud computing business.
The plant’s owner, Constellation Energy, announced a 20-year agreement on Friday for Microsoft to buy power from the restored plant. Reopening the plant will require an investment of $1.6 billion to revive the plant, bring everything up to date, and get the necessary permits and licenses. But the payoff will be big: The plant could directly and indirectly create 3,400 new jobs and increase Pennsylvania’s GDP by $16 billion.
Microsoft’s decision to turn to nuclear power is a sign of the large amount of electricity needed for the AI boom. According to Bloomberg, AI is driving demand for carbon-free electricity, and Microsoft’s move to buy nuclear energy for 20 years is the latest move to fill that demand as it’s the first time the tech giant has signed a deal of this kind.
Three Mile Island. Photo credit: Getty Images
Since the agreement was announced, opinions have been divided on how to proceed. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro supports the agreement and wants it to “move forward expeditiously.” However, residents of Perry County, Pennsylvania, wrote to the paper saying issues with nuclear waste and byproducts must be addressed before the plant can operate.
Related: How much does it cost to develop and train AI? It’s too expensive.
Dr. Michael Gough, acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Department of Energy, called the restart a “significant milestone.”
“Full-time, carbon-free nuclear energy plays a key role in fighting climate change and meeting the nation’s growing energy needs,” Goff said.
Three Mile Island was once known as the site of the most serious accident in U.S. commercial operating history, when a partial meltdown at the plant released small amounts of radioactivity in March 1979. The accident led to increased regulation and a decline in public confidence in nuclear power in the decades that followed, but no injuries, deaths, or long-term health effects were identified as a result of the accident.
