US Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant to Reopen, Power to Be Sold to Microsoft

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The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, site of the worst nuclear accident in American history, is set to resume operations under a deal to sell power to Microsoft, Constellation Energy said on Friday.

The company announced that the 20-year agreement will include restarting the Unit 1 reactor, “which operated at industry-leading levels of safety and reliability for decades before it was shut down for economic reasons exactly five years ago.”

The Unit 1 reactor was not involved in the 1979 partial nuclear disaster in Pennsylvania.

US media reported that Microsoft would use the energy to power its artificial intelligence solutions, a rapidly growing sector that requires huge amounts of energy.

Constellation Energy said the reactor will restart in 2028.

“This agreement is a major milestone in Microsoft’s efforts to decarbonize the electricity grid as part of our commitment to achieving negative carbon emissions,” said Bobby Hollis, vice president of energy at Microsoft.

On March 28, 1979, a partial meltdown of Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Power Plant occurred, causing panic in the United States.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission called it “the most serious accident in the history of a U.S. commercial nuclear power plant, although its small releases of radioactive substances had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public.”

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