US pumps $1B into Three Mile Island nuclear plant reboot to keep AI datacenters fed
(2025/11/19)
- Reference: 1763570472
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/19/us_three_mile_island_loan/
- Source link:
The Trump administration is so eager to get extra power into the grid that it is offering a $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy to help it restart the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear facility.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the move on Tuesday, claiming that the funding from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office would lower electricity costs and strengthen grid reliability.
One of the beneficiaries of this move is likely to be Microsoft. The IT giant last year [1]signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Constellation for electricity produced by the plant, now known as the Crane Clean Energy Center, as part of efforts to decarbonize the operation of its datacenters by securing "green" energy sources.
[2]
That deal, announced in September 2024, is to restart the TMI Unit 1 reactor, which was retired from service in 2019 but never fully decommissioned. It is close to the TMI-2 unit, which suffered a partial core meltdown in 1979.
[3]
[4]
According to the DOE, the government loan will partially finance the restart of the 835 MW reactor, which is expected to produce enough energy to power roughly 800,000 homes, pending approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"Constellation's restart of a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania will provide affordable, reliable, and secure energy to Americans across the Mid-Atlantic region. It will also help ensure America has the energy it needs to grow its domestic manufacturing base and win the AI race," Wright said.
[5]
When Microsoft signed its deal with Constellation, the plant was expected to be online sometime in 2028. This summer, however, the energy firm's chief exec [6]hinted that it could be a year earlier than that .
[7]Amazon spills plan to nuke Washington...with X-Energy mini-reactors
[8]Microsoft nuke power deal for Three Mile Island appears to be ahead of schedule
[9]AI datacenters want to go nuclear. Too bad they needed it yesterday
[10]Palantir jumps aboard tech-nuclear bandwagon with software deal
"Two years from now... when PJM gets this thing interconnected, we're going to be ready," said Joe Dominguez, referring to the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland regional power grid operator.
Nuclear power is increasingly viewed as as a key enabler in delivering the myriad new datacenters needed to drive AI development, and push forward the Trump administration's ambitions to beat China at this game. Last month, OpenAI urged the President to [11]build 100 gigawatts of additional generation capacity a year to prevent China overtaking the US in the AI arms race.
The drawback is that nuclear facilities can take up to a decade to build from scratch, so restarting retired units such as the Crane Clean Energy Center is seen as vital in helping to plug the gap.
In the meantime, the DOE is also working with private sector firms to [12]test out advanced new reactor projects , in line with President Trump's Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program. A shortlist of ten companies was announced in August, with the aim of having at least three test units fired up by July 4 next year – the 250th anniversary of America's independence. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/three_mile_island_nuclear_plant_microsoft_ai/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aR33qEJ3IYcNwzM4MMnuHwAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aR33qEJ3IYcNwzM4MMnuHwAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/26/microsoft_tmi_nuclear/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/17/amazon_nuke_washington/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/26/microsoft_tmi_nuclear/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/31/nuclear_no_panacea_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/27/palantir_joins_tech_nuclear_bandwagon/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/28/openai_100gw_power_demand/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/14/us_doe_names_firms_that/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the move on Tuesday, claiming that the funding from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office would lower electricity costs and strengthen grid reliability.
One of the beneficiaries of this move is likely to be Microsoft. The IT giant last year [1]signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Constellation for electricity produced by the plant, now known as the Crane Clean Energy Center, as part of efforts to decarbonize the operation of its datacenters by securing "green" energy sources.
[2]
That deal, announced in September 2024, is to restart the TMI Unit 1 reactor, which was retired from service in 2019 but never fully decommissioned. It is close to the TMI-2 unit, which suffered a partial core meltdown in 1979.
[3]
[4]
According to the DOE, the government loan will partially finance the restart of the 835 MW reactor, which is expected to produce enough energy to power roughly 800,000 homes, pending approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"Constellation's restart of a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania will provide affordable, reliable, and secure energy to Americans across the Mid-Atlantic region. It will also help ensure America has the energy it needs to grow its domestic manufacturing base and win the AI race," Wright said.
[5]
When Microsoft signed its deal with Constellation, the plant was expected to be online sometime in 2028. This summer, however, the energy firm's chief exec [6]hinted that it could be a year earlier than that .
[7]Amazon spills plan to nuke Washington...with X-Energy mini-reactors
[8]Microsoft nuke power deal for Three Mile Island appears to be ahead of schedule
[9]AI datacenters want to go nuclear. Too bad they needed it yesterday
[10]Palantir jumps aboard tech-nuclear bandwagon with software deal
"Two years from now... when PJM gets this thing interconnected, we're going to be ready," said Joe Dominguez, referring to the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland regional power grid operator.
Nuclear power is increasingly viewed as as a key enabler in delivering the myriad new datacenters needed to drive AI development, and push forward the Trump administration's ambitions to beat China at this game. Last month, OpenAI urged the President to [11]build 100 gigawatts of additional generation capacity a year to prevent China overtaking the US in the AI arms race.
The drawback is that nuclear facilities can take up to a decade to build from scratch, so restarting retired units such as the Crane Clean Energy Center is seen as vital in helping to plug the gap.
In the meantime, the DOE is also working with private sector firms to [12]test out advanced new reactor projects , in line with President Trump's Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program. A shortlist of ten companies was announced in August, with the aim of having at least three test units fired up by July 4 next year – the 250th anniversary of America's independence. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/three_mile_island_nuclear_plant_microsoft_ai/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aR33qEJ3IYcNwzM4MMnuHwAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aR33qEJ3IYcNwzM4MMnuHwAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aR33qEJ3IYcNwzM4MMnuHwAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aR33qEJ3IYcNwzM4MMnuHwAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/26/microsoft_tmi_nuclear/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/17/amazon_nuke_washington/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/26/microsoft_tmi_nuclear/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/31/nuclear_no_panacea_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/27/palantir_joins_tech_nuclear_bandwagon/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/28/openai_100gw_power_demand/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/14/us_doe_names_firms_that/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/