Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island nuclear plant, sell the power to Microsoft for AI

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Fri Sep 20, 2024, 09:07 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNBC

Published Fri, Sep 20 2024 7:22 AM EDT Updated 8 Min Ago


Constellation Energy plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and will sell the power to Microsoft, demonstrating the immense power needs of the tech sector as they build out data centers to support artificial intelligence.

Constellation expects the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island near Middletown, Pennsylvania, to come back online in 2028, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company announced Friday. Constellation also plans to apply to extend the plant’s operations to at least 2054. Constellation stock jumped more than 9% in early trading.

Microsoft will purchase electricity from the plant to match the energy its data centers consume with carbon-free power. Constellation described the agreement with Microsoft as the largest power purchase agreement that the nuclear plant operator has ever signed. “The decision here is the most powerful symbol of the rebirth of nuclear power as a clean and reliable energy resource,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez told investors on a call Friday morning.

Unit 1 ceased operations in 2019 as nuclear power struggled struggled to compete economically with cheap natural gas and renewables. It is separate from the reactor that partially melted down in 1979 in the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. Constellation will rename the plant the Crane Clean Energy Center.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/20/constellation-energy-to-restart-three-mile-island-and-sell-the-power-to-microsoft.html

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Link to Constellation Energy NEWS RELEASE - Constellation to Launch Crane Clean Energy Center, Restoring Jobs and Carbon-Free Power to The Grid


Ode to all of us that live in PA and remember when the CT and was rampant -

Article updated.

Previous articles/headline -

Published Fri, Sep 20 2024 7:22 AM EDT Updated 4 Min Ago


Constellation Energy plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and will sell the power to Microsoft, demonstrating the immense power needs of the tech sector as they build out data centers to support artificial intelligence.

Constellation expects the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island to come back online in 2028, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company announced Friday.

Unit 1 ceased operations in 2019 because it could not compete economically with cheap natural gas and renewables. It is separate from the reactor that partially melted down in 1979 in the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.

Microsoft will purchase electricity from the plant to match the energy its data centers consume with carbon-free power. Constellation described the agreement with Microsoft as the largest power purchase agreement that the nuclear plant operator has ever signed.

Published Fri, Sep 20 2024 7:22 AM EDT Updated 1 Min Ago


Constellation Energy plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and will sell the power to Microsoft, the companies announced on Friday.

Constellation expects the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island to come back online in 2028, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Unit 1 ceased operations in 2019 and is separate from the reactor that partially melted down in 1979 in the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.

Microsoft will purchase electricity from the plant to match the energy its data centers consume with carbon-free power. Constellation described the agreement with Microsoft as the largest power purchase agreement that the nuclear plant operator has ever signed.

Constellation stock jumped nearly 7% in early trading.


This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

Original article/headline -

Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island nuclear plant and sell the power to Microsoft

Published Fri, Sep 20 2024 7:22 AM EDT Updated 7 Min Ago


Constellation Energy plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and will sell the power to Microsoft, the companies announced on Friday.

Constellation expects the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island to come back online in 2028, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Unit 1 ceased operations in 2019 and is separate from the reactor that partially melted down in 1979 in the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

[genxlib]

1. It's like a real world sharknado

Where multiple scary threats combine for a low grade horror movie.

[captain queeg]

2. Didn't realize unit 1 had been in operation up to 2019.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. That one wasn't damaged

and I think there had been talk about decommissioning the whole thing.

In fact, here is NRC's "history" - https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html

And yup, Constellation had intended on decommissioning... obviously until now!

[Miguelito Loveless]

3. If AI requires a nuclear reactor to work

the tech uses WAY too much power.

[rampartd]

19. ai hell. they're using it to mine bitcoins.

[Bengus81]

5. They worry about power for AI? Hell they have to update their crap OS seemingly every day

And breeches to their own data? Yeah...because I was signed up to Microsoft.com hackers got my email address in a breech and I received a nice ransomware email.

I just locked everything down with passwords to access my email and most websites using a Firefox master password. Never heard from them again. Thanks MS!!!

[wolfie001]

6. That's my energy overlord!!!

Uh oh!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Thankfully I'm 100+ miles away from TMI

although I'm about 30 miles from Limerick!

[wolfie001]

8. I'm down in Frederick Maryland and have seen the plant from various roads since the mid '80s

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I did a class trip to Limerick, which was under construction

the same year (I think a couple months after) TMI had the partial meltdown. At the time, Limerick wasn't operational, I think it was finally up and running in the early '90s.

Just checked and Limerick is owned by the same company as TMI now... Apparently that JUST happened in 2022 (they separated out from Exelon which bought PECO in 2000, which originally owned Limerick).

[wolfie001]

12. Must be a lot of Irish there

Cheers!

[BumRushDaShow]

14. LOL

There once was a plant they named "Limerick"
The people thought it was a "gimm'rick"
They looked at its towers
In awe of its powers
And figured the owner was a "maverick".

[Kid Berwyn]

9. Yeah, that and Bitcoin.

You wouldn’t believe all the electrons!

[highplainsdem]

16. Tremendous waste of energy for both crypto and generative AI, both of which do much more harm than good.

[yaesu]

10. The more AI I see and hear the more I hate it. nt

[highplainsdem]

17. I've been learning as much as I can about generative AI for more than a year and a half now, ever

since OpenAI released ChatGPT and started wreaking havoc on education.

GenAI has already done so much harm in so many areas, faster than I would have thought possible.

The energy demands are ridiculous. AI search requires 10x the energy of normal search (and often produces garbage results). Which means more need for cooling of more and more data centers, which can often require the equivalent of a bottle of water for just a few ChatGPT queries.

[Farmer-Rick]

13. I was near 3 mile island when it had its melt down

I remember how nervous everyone was. I had a go bag packed and ready.

So, we have a damaged nuclear power plant being put back into production. But the good news is.....

"For the first time ever, U.S. electricity generation from utility-scale solar and wind exceeded nuclear power plants' power output in the first half of 2024, according to data from energy think tank Ember quoted by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.

Electricity generation from solar and wind hit a record-high of 401.4 terawatt hours (TWh) between January and June 2024, surpassing the 390.5 TWh of power generated from nuclear power plants, Ember's data showed."

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Solar-and-Wind-Power-Generation-Tops-Nuclear-for-First-Time.amp.html

[BumRushDaShow]

15. I think one of the resons why this might have been revived was due to issues with some offshore wind turbine projects

including those recently planned to be off the Jersey coast (some having fallen through for a myriad of reasons).

[Deminpenn]

18. Shippingsport nuclear plant

is going down the same road here in Beaver county. I believe the plan is to locate a big data center near the plant, though.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. I was wondering

because it sounds like M$ would be putting some kind of data center nearby (or maybe leasing space from an existing one) to be able to tap into that.

[Deminpenn]

23. It makes sense

I know lots of folks think the "cloud" is something new, but it's just distributed computing at a giant scale.

There's no reason that the data centers can't or shouldn't be co-located with a reliable and non fossil fuel power source.

[orthoclad]

20. Crypto. AI. Surveillance.

The techionnaires will take the energy that could run a medium-sized country to solidify their wealth and power.

Ironic that they're turning to TMI. It feels like Skynet is taking over.

[captain queeg]

22. Nukes are good for base loading, a constant output usually close to the max.

Then the smaller plants deal with the daily fluctuations. The one near where I worked was about 1200 MW. And the o&m costs are real high. Another reason they like to keep them near full load.

[IcyPeas]

24. Nuclear power plant and artificial intelligence... what could go wrong?

AI seems to be moving way too fast.