The Three Mile Island nuclear plant — site of America’s worst commercial nuclear accident in 1979 — is now expected to restart in 2027, a full year ahead of schedule. Owner Constellation Energy has accelerated the timeline thanks to a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft for 835 megawatts of carbon-free electricity to power AI data centers, backed by a $1 billion DOE federal loan.
The Deal Structure
- Buyer: Microsoft (20-year power purchase agreement)
- Capacity: ~835 MW of carbon-free electricity
- Use: Match power consumption of Microsoft data centers in the PJM region
- Revival cost: $1.6 billion total project
- Federal loan: $1 billion from the US Department of Energy
- New restart year: 2027 (was 2028)
Why The Acceleration
- Microsoft has framed the site as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”
- AI data-center power demand is the single biggest grid-load surge in two decades
- Peak energy demand projected to grow up to 17% by 2035 — largely AI-driven
- Carbon-free baseload is the scarcest grid resource Microsoft can secure
The Broader Nuclear Renaissance
- Three Mile Island is the symbol — but it’s not alone
- US Energy Secretary: the grid “must be built for peak demand”
- Constellation, Vistra, Talen Energy all repositioning nuclear assets for AI buyers
- Big Tech is now the top customer reshaping America’s energy landscape
Why It Matters
- First major restart of a previously shuttered US commercial reactor
- Sets precedent for valuing nuclear baseload as an AI-era premium
- Reframes the political case for nuclear from “clean” to “AI-competitive”
- If the 2027 timeline holds, validates accelerated-restart playbook for other dormant plants
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