The Three Mile Island Nuclear plant would restart under a deal in which Microsoft purchases its power to help fuel the tech giant's data centers. Penn

Microsoft Deal Would Reopen Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant To Power AI Microsoft Deal Would Reopen Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant To Power AI

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2024-09-21 20:30:07

The Three Mile Island Nuclear plant would restart under a deal in which Microsoft purchases its power to help fuel the tech giant's data centers.

Pennsylvania’s dormant Three Mile Island nuclear plant would be brought back to life to feed the voracious energy needs of Microsoft under an unprecedented deal announced Friday in which the tech giant would buy 100 percent of its power for 20 years.

The restart of Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, would mark a bold advance in the tech industry’s quest to find enough electric power to support its boom in artificial intelligence. The plant, which Pennsylvanians thought had closed for good in 2019 amid financial strain, would come back online by 2028 under the agreement, according to plant owner Constellation Energy.

If approved by regulators, Three Mile Island would provide Microsoft with the energy equivalent it takes to power 800,000 homes, or 835 megawatts. Never before has a U.S. nuclear plant come back into service after being decommissioned, and never before has all of a single commercial nuclear power plant’s output been allocated to a single customer.