Three Mile Island, the Pennsylvania nuclear plant that was the site of a 1979 reactor accident, is reopening to generate power for artificial intelligence.
Three Mile Island, the shuttered Pennsylvania nuclear power plant that was the site of a 1979 reactor accident that remains the worst commercial nuclear power plant accident in U.S. history, is reopening to generate power for artificial intelligence.
Constellation Energy will restart Three Mile Island Unit 1, one of the facility’s pressurized water reactors, for the launch of the Crane Clean Energy Center, which will generate nuclear energy purchased by Microsoft to power the company’s AI data center, the companies announced on Friday.
Under the agreement between the two companies, Microsoft will purchase energy from the plant as part of its goal to help power its data centers with carbon-free energy.
“This agreement is a major milestone in Microsoft’s efforts to help decarbonize the grid in support of our commitment to become carbon negative. Microsoft continues to collaborate with energy providers to develop carbon-free energy sources to help meet the grids’ capacity and reliability needs”, said Microsoft Vice President of Energy Bobby Hollis in a statement.
The power purchase agreement “makes sense” because it ensures a stable revenue source for the power plant while providing 24/7 emission-free electricity for the data center, Jacopo Buongiorno, professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), .
