Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Reopens to Serve Microsoft: It Was the Site of a Major Accident

It has been announced Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania reopensto serve the Microsoft data centerespecially those related to cloud and AI services. The news comes from Joseph Dominguez, the CEO of the energy group Constellation that manages the plant, who spoke of “The symbolism is huge” for the event, because “Three Miles Island was the site of the greatest fiasco of our industry and now it can be the site of our rebirth”.

Recourse to nuclear power

In 1979, the Three Mile Island power plant was the scene of the worst nuclear accident in US history. Human error caused a failure in the cooling system, causing a partial meltdown, with a loss of radioactive vapors. The effects on the population were negligible, but the controversy that followed led to the temporary shutdown of seven other plants and the blocking of the construction of new plants. In 1985, Unit 1 was reopened, which continued to operate until 2019, when it was closed for safety reasons. That of Three Mile Island It was considered the worst nuclear accident ever before Chernobyl in 1986..

The agreement with Microsoft arises from thehuge amount of energy that its infrastructure needs 24 hours a day. The agreement would also allow the Redmond company to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Constellation will spend $1.6 billion to reactivate Unit 1which alone could serve up to 800,000 homes, before it closed. The increased global energy demand, aggravated by new, very expensive technologies, is bringing nuclear back into fashion, since the plants can constantly produce energy without producing greenhouse gases.