Regulator Helps Constellation Energy Fast-Track Three Mile Island Revival

America’s fear of nuclear energy might be a mile wide and an inch deep. Or, in this instance, three miles wide. Regardless, just about every stakeholder is hoping to conquer their fears, and fast.

This week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Constellation Energy’s request to fast-track its revival of the Three Mile Island nuclear power ‌plant in Pennsylvania. The plan is to bring the once-doomed power plant back online sometime next year to service a nearby glut of power-hungry Microsoft data centers. For the hyperscaler and its area neighbors, energy relief can’t come soon enough.

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Microsoft struck a deal with Constellation in 2024, committing to a 20-year contract to buy all the electricity produced by the 835-megawatt reactor at the Crane Clean Energy Center on Three Mile Island (that is, the reactor that didn’t melt down 47 years ago). For reference, nearby Pittsburgh requires about half that much energy. Microsoft needs the power not only for its data centers in the state but also those in Chicago, Ohio and especially northern Virginia, where it has a major presence in so-called Data Center Alley. 

The waiver Constellation received from FERC could significantly accelerate the timeline for Crane’s revival; previous projections didn’t see the plant coming online until 2031. In the meantime, electricity costs continue to rise:

• In Virginia, home to over 600 data centers, residential electricity bills surged nearly 15% year-over-year as of March, according to the US Energy Information Administration; in neighboring Maryland, residential costs rose an astounding 89%.
• In Pennsylvania, the Public Utilities Commission recently warned residents to expect higher electricity costs starting this month, due partly to surging data center demand; bills may rise 10% or more.

A bipartisan group of Pennsylvania lawmakers is pushing legislation to protect residents from data center-related price hikes, mirroring proposed federal legislation and the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, already signed by many hyperscalers. 

Fuse it or Lose it: Elsewhere in the realm of nuclear power, startup Thea Energy raised $100 million in Series B funding this week as it works to build commercial-scale fusion reactors. The science of nuclear fusion (as opposed to the fission process at Three Mile Island and elsewhere) remains highly complex, though Thea Energy co-founder and CEO Brian Berzin told The Daily Upside in February that it will be “delivering electrons reliably to end customers within a decade.” That $100 million certainly helps.