Three Mile Island

Microsoft and Constellation Energy have spent the last year trying to

resurrect the Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. The

plant shut down in 2019 under economic pressure, after a separate part of

the facility was decommissioned following a partial meltdown in 1979. The

effort is laudable, especially in light of Microsoft’s rapidly rising

demand for clean energy to fuel its artificial intelligence data centers.

Unfortunately, it will never work. A fully shut-down nuclear plant has

never been restarted in America for good reason: There are too many

regulatory, material and logistical hurdles to overcome. So far,

Constellation Energy has painted a rosy picture. It originally stated the

plant would be back online by 2028. Then, in early 2025, it revised its

estimated opening date to 2027 following various inspections and the
restoration of the plant’s water systems. But traditional nuclear
projects have a long history of going over budget and past schedule. A big
factor is that the U.S. regulatory environment is not friendly to
traditional nuclear power. As the former head of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission in the first Trump administration, I have seen
firsthand how red tape can choke even the best-intentioned projects under
goodwill regulators. Reactors that were permanently shut down must go
through an extensive regulatory review process and request special
exemptions for both their operations and use of radioactive fuel.
Constellation Energy and Microsoft have some solace in that the Department
of Energy offered their project public support. But the Department of
Energy isn’t the only player in town. To ensure safety, Three Mile Island

will also have to pass rigorous rounds of inspections, receive