The Trump administration is giving a $1 billion loan to help restart a nuclear plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, boosting a project that aims to provide power to Microsoft’s vast network of data centers.
The funding, announced by the Energy Department on Tuesday, would help restart Three Mile Island Unit 1, which shut down in 2019. The other unit at the site near Harrisburg, Pa., shut down in 1979 after its reactor had a partial meltdown and released a small amount of radioactive material into the air. It was the most serious nuclear power accident in the country’s history.
The plant became synonymous with the dangers of nuclear power and fueled public opposition to new nuclear projects for decades, even as safer reactors were developed.
Last year, Unit 1 became the face of a potential revival of the nuclear power industry when Microsoft and Constellation, Unit 1’s owner, announced a deal to restart the plant.
Nuclear energy is one of the options large technology companies like Microsoft are considering to help power the vast networks of data centers needed to provide all kinds of computing services, from social media to artificial intelligence. Google and Amazon have also signed deals with nuclear operators and developers.
Attitudes toward nuclear power have softened in the United States, and it has political support among both Republicans and Democrats. The industry’s supporters have said that the U.S. regulatory system drives up the cost of construction. China has leapfrogged the United States in nuclear power, and while it has similar safety standards, its approval system is more predictable.
The Trump administration has said it wants to reduce regulations at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which certifies that a reactor is safe before it is built. President Trump signed an executive order in May directing the agency to take no more than 18 months to approve applications for new reactors.
The Three Mile Island restart project would “help ensure America has the energy it needs to grow its domestic manufacturing base and win the AI race,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement on Tuesday. Constellation said the loan has “made it possible for us to vastly expedite this restart without compromising quality or safety.”
Under the deal to revive the plant, Microsoft would buy as much power as it can from the plant for 20 years in an effort to add carbon-free electricity to the grids that power its operations.
Neither Constellation nor the Energy Department provided details of the loan or its terms. But Constellation said the loan would help it secure cheaper financing. The revived plant, named the Crane Clean Energy Center, is expected to come online in 2027, pending approvals from regulators, the company said in September. With 500 full-time employees, the site is 80 percent staffed, it said.
Once online, the 835-megawatt reactor will produce enough electricity to power roughly 800,000 homes, according to the Energy Department.
In addition to the technical challenges of restarting a mothballed nuclear plant, there are lingering safety concerns. In August 2024, about a dozen people opposed to the plant’s reopening protested outside its gates.
Qasim Nauman is a Times editor in Seoul, covering breaking news from around the world.
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