Three Mile Island Set to Restart to Power Microsoft’s AI Data Centers
The shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant will be brought back online to sell power to Microsoft for its data centers under a deal announced Friday, as the tech giant’s energy needs rocket in the age of artificial intelligence.
The agreement between Microsoft and Constellation Energy, the dormant plant’s owner, would see the site’s Unit 1 reactor put back into service by 2028. The Pennsylvania plant’s other reactor, Unit 2, was destroyed in a partial meltdown in 1979 in what remains the worst nuclear accident in American history.
The plant’s previous owner, Exelon, shut down the site in 2019, citing financial difficulties. If the new deal with Microsoft is approved, it would mark the first time that a U.S. nuclear power plant is brought out of retirement after being decommissioned.