Second chance

The lights are on again at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (renamed the Christopher M. Crane Clean Energy Center) in central Pennsylvania. The nation’s largest nuclear energy company is working to restart one of the reactors at the site of the 1979 accident to help meet a growing demand for electricity.

Constellation Energy announced in 2024 its intention to restart by next year the reactor that provided 835 megawatts of energy before it was decommissioned in 2019. Company officials said at the time it was unprofitable after generating power for more than 40 years. (The reactor that experienced a partial meltdown never resumed operations.)

But a changing market, fueled by data centers, prompted Constellation Energy to request approval to reopen the plant. Industry analysts predict data centers will account for up to 60% of load growth through 2030, and Microsoft agreed to purchase power generated from the reopened reactor for 20 years. One hyperscale center can draw 100 to 200 megawatts, the same amount of electricity needed to power a city like Charleston, S.C., or Salt Lake City, Utah.

There are 95 nuclear power plants operating in the United States, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They generate about 20% of the nation’s electricity and have consistently operated above 90% of their capacity since 2002, according to the World Nuclear Association. The renewed interest in nuclear power follows a decades-long decline caused by decreasing demand, lower natural gas prices, stringent application of regulations, construction delays and cost overruns, solar and wind subsidies, and opposition following high-profile incidents. Since 2010, several plants, including in New Jersey and New York in 2018 and 2021, respectively, closed before their licenses expired.

The work ongoing in Pennsylvania is the second nuclear power plant restart underway. The NRC said in May that resuming operations at the Palisades Nuclear Plant on the shore of Lake Michigan (decommissioned in 2022) would have no significant environmental impact. Both projects, if completed and approved, will add more than 1,600 megawatts to the national electric grid, according to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios.

Fast-tracked pipeline approved again

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the Dakota Access Pipeline can remain in place with stricter procedures. The latest decision May 21 follows a 2020 court order to assess potential environmental consequences more comprehensively than originally done in 2016. The nearly 1,200 mile pipeline transports up to 570,000 barrels of oil a day from North Dakota to Illinois refineries. Native Americans and environmentalists fought the pipeline’s 1-mile route under Lake Oahe—the nation’s fourth-largest ­reservoir—since it was proposed in 2014.

Dakota Access must now develop procedures to supply clean water, food, and financial compensation in case of a spill, add more groundwater monitoring wells, and allow independent review of its leak-detection systems. —T.V.