Microsoft plans to cooperate to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States to support AI business through carbon-free energy
Microsoft has signed a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy Corporation, the owner of the Three Mile Island plant, to rehabilitate the Three Mile Island 1 reactor to establish the Crane Clean Energy Center, part of the tech giant's efforts to power its artificial intelligence business with carbon-free energy.
As part of the deal, Constellation Energy will provide 835 trillion watts of power to Microsoft and spend about $1.60 billion to bring the facility online, with plans to do so in 2028. The deal still has to be approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), state officials and local authorities before it can resume operations.
It is reported that the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, located near the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, USA, suffered a core meltdown accident on March 28, 1979. The accident was rated as level 5 in the international nuclear event classification system.
The Three Mile Island nuclear accident was the most serious nuclear accident in the United States to date, but compared with the subsequent accidents at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident is still within the manageable range.