US Nuclear Regulator Kicks off Review on Three Mile Island Restart

Source: US News and World Report/Reuters

Oct. 25, 2024, at 11:06 a.m.


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. nuclear regulators kicked off a long-winding process to consider Constellation Energy's unprecedented plans to restart its retired Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in an initial public meeting held on Friday. Constellation, which announced last month that it had signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft that would enable reopening the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island, made its case before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restore its operating license for the plant.

The company also sought to extend the life of the plant and change its name to the Crane Clean Energy Center. Three Mile Island, which is located in Pennsylvania on an island in the Susquehanna River, is widely known for the 1979 partial meltdown of its Unit 2 reactor. That unit has been permanently shut and is being decommissioned. Members of the NRC requested details about the emergency evacuation plans for the restarted plant and information about the commercial deal with Microsoft, while imploring Constellation to quickly work on permitting related to its water use for the plant.

The NRC also raised questions about how the restart of Unit 1 would intersect with the decommissioning of Unit 2, which began last year, nearly 45 years after the partial meltdown. Utah-based nuclear services company EnergySolutions owns Unit 2 and related infrastructure, while Constellation owns Unit 1 and the site's land.

Unit 1 shut down due to economic reasons in 2019, some 15 years before the operating license was set to expire. At the time, Constellation said it did not anticipate a restart. Constellation now expects to restart the 835-megawatt Unit 1 in 2028, delivering power to the grid to offset electricity use by Microsoft's data center in the region.

Read more: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2024-10-25/us-nuclear-regulator-hears-three-mile-island-power-plant-restart-plan