The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant: It Will Reopen and Serve as an Economic Engine for Pennsylvania, Attorney General Eric Epstein

What is a better investment for our money? That is the question we should be asking. We were told to let the market decide. Eric Epstein is a spokesman for Three Mile Island Alert.

The plant was among the safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid when it was shut down because of poor economics, and we will bring it back with a new name and mission to serve as an economic engine for Pennsylvania.

One of the two reactor cooling mechanisms malfunctioned on March 28, 1979 and caused the partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island. The reactor that will be reopened to power Microsoft’s data centers was not involved in the accident.

Unlike power plants using fossil fuels, like coal or natural gas, nuclear plants do not directly release carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming.

Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates invested $1 billion in a nuclear power plant that broke ground in Kemmerer, Wyo., in June. Gates told Steve Inskeep that the plant will power homes.

“Pennsylvania’s nuclear energy industry plays a critical role in providing safe, reliable, carbon-free electricity that helps reduce emissions and grow Pennsylvania’s economy,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said.

Constellation will invest $1.6 billion to revive the plant, and the company will need approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to bring the site back online, alongside permits from state and local agencies. Constellation is also pursuing a license renewal to extend plant operations until at least 2054.

The deal will create approximately 3,400 jobs and bring in more than $3 billion in state and federal taxes, according to the company. The agreement will increase Pennsylvania’s GDP by $16 billion.

The power purchase agreement of Microsoft for the reopening of the Exelon Reactor and Data Center in Los Angeles, Calif.

The reactor that Microsoft plans to source its energy from was retired in 2019 for economic reasons and is located next to a unit that was shut down in 1979 after the worst US nuclear accident in history. Data centers require more than a billion kilowatt-hours of energy to power their operations, and the plant that will be reopening by this summer is capable of generating hundreds of millions of kilowatt-hours.

It was announced Friday that it had signed its largest power purchase agreement with Microsoft.

In a first-of-its-kind deal, Microsoft is buying power from the plant that will be renamed to honor the late Chris Crane, the ex-CEO of Exelon.

If regulators approve the power purchase agreement, the site will come back online in a matter of years, assuming the agreement is approved.