Why A $16 Billion Deal To Revive Three Mile Island Is A Game Changer For U.S. Nuclear

In 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear plant came to embody Americans’ fears about atomic energy, after one of its two reactors partially melted down in what became the worst accident in the U.S. industry’s history, despite no one dying or getting sick from radiation.

Now the Londonderry, Pennsylvania, facility could become a symbol of nuclear power’s turnaround.

In a landmark deal announced Friday, Microsoft agreed to pay $16 billion to restart the plant’s second reactor, which shut down in 2019 under financial pressure from growing competition with cheap natural gas. It’s part of the tech giant’s efforts to secure enough reliable, low-carbon electricity to supply energy-thirsty data centers powering the boom in artificial intelligence.

While the Unit 2 reactor destroyed in 1979 is undergoing decommissioning, Microsoft said it would buy up to 100% of the electricity produced from refurbishing the more recently shuttered Unit 1 for the next 20 years.

The plant’s owner, Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, predicted Unit 1 could come back online as early as 2028, and said it would apply for a license to continue operating the unit for at least the next 30 years. The nation’s largest reactor operator pledged to spend $1.6 billion on the restart project.

“Before it was prematurely shuttered due to poor economics, this plant was among the safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid,” Joe Dominguez, Constellation’s chief executive, said in a statement. “We look forward to bringing it back with a new name and a renewed mission to serve as an economic engine for Pennsylvania.”

Deals like this ― long-term, power-purchase agreements against which energy developers can borrow money to build new generating stations ―