Microsoft will restart US nuclear plant to power AI operations
By MYBRANDBOOK
Constellation Energy and Microsoft had inked a power agreement to assist in the first-ever restart of a section of the nuclear facility at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. But the necessary regulatory permissions for the plant's new existence have not yet been submitted. The U.S. demand for electricity for data centres, which are necessary to advance technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence, has suddenly increased due to big tech.
Nuclear energy, which is nearly carbon-free and broadly considered more reliable than energy sources like solar and wind, has become a popular option for technology companies with uninterrupted power needs and climate pledges. Power from the plant would be used to offset Microsoft's data center electricity use.
A relaunch of Three Mile Island, which had a separate unit suffer a partial-meltdown in 1979 in one of the biggest industrial accidents in the country's history, still requires federal, state and local approvals.
“Nuclear plants are the only energy sources that can consistently deliver on that promise," Constellation Chief Executive Officer Joe Dominguez said.
Constellation has yet to file an application with federal nuclear regulators to restart the plant. Constellation said it expected the NRC review process to be completed in 2027.
"It’s up to Constellation to lay out its rationale for justifying restart, so we’re prepared to engage with the company on next steps," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesperson Scott Burnell.
The deal would help enable a revival of Unit 1 of the five-decades-old facility in Pennsylvania that was retired in 2019 due to economic reasons. Unit 2, which had the meltdown, will not be restarted. Constellation plans to spend about $1.6 billion to revive the plant, which it expects to come online by 2028.
Under the Constellation-Microsoft deal, Microsoft will purchase energy from the restarted plant for a period of 20 years. The Three Mile Island unit will provide 835 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about 700,000 homes.
A restart is expected to be challenging, but as power demand spikes, the virtually carbon-free electricity source is seeing renewed support from tech companies.
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