Avi Salzman of Barron’s reports that artificial intelligence and electric vehicles are devouring enormous amounts of electricity and that old reactors are being brought back online to fill the demand. Salzman writes:
Just south of Harrisburg, Pa., on a narrow island in the Susquehanna River, something extraordinary is taking place. The Three Mile Island nuclear plant, scene of a historic radioactive meltdown in 1979, is quietly getting prepped for a second chance. Within three or four years, the plant’s one undamaged reactor may start up again, heralding a new era in American energy.
Just south of Harrisburg, Pa., on a narrow island in the Susquehanna River, something extraordinary is taking place. The Three Mile Island nuclear plant, scene of a historic radioactive meltdown in 1979, is quietly getting prepped for a second chance. Within three or four years, the plant’s one undamaged reactor may start up again, heralding a new era in American energy.
“It would be incredibly symbolic,” says Joe Dominguez, CEO of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, which owns the Three Mile Island reactor. The 1979 accident taught the industry “hard lessons” about how to make nuclear power safer. Now, Dominguez says, it can “also be the birthplace for this renewed interest in nuclear power.”
Global Changes in Electricity Generation, 2015-2024
Source: International Energy Agency
The stars are aligning for a nuclear power revival in the U.S. The government is funneling billions of dollars into the industry, tech luminaries like Bill Gates and OpenAI’s Sam Altman are backing new companies, and public support for nuclear power is firmly on the rise.
Global electricity-generation capacity from nuclear power
In past centuries, that new power might have come from coal. But America’s climate goals favor sources that don’t emit carbon dioxide, and that points to nuclear, solar, and wind. Among those, nuclear stands out as a clean source that can run whether the sun shines or the wind blows. […]
The first test case of whether an old reactor can be restarted is unfolding in Michigan. Holtec International, a company that normally makes money from decommissioning nuclear plants, is now planning to reopen a shuttered reactor at a site known as Palisades, on the banks of Lake Michigan.
Patrick O’Brien, Holtec’s director of government affairs and communications, says the company had not expected to reopen the reactor when it took over the site from utility Entergy in 2022. But Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office insisted they consider it, and the state was willing to put up part of the money to make it happen. Michigan has committed to decarbonizing its electricity grid by 2040. Officials there realized that leaving out Palisades, which can serve 800,000 customers, would be a major setback. Achieving the state’s climate goals “would be really hard without bringing this facility back on-line,” says Kara Cook, the state’s chief climate and energy strategist.
The state has pledged $300 million to support Palisades, and the federal government has conditionally approved a $1.5 billion loan guarantee. Depending on the speed of permitting, Palisades could come back on-line by October 2025. The company is also applying to build two small reactors, potentially generating enough power for about 500,000 additional people.
Not everyone is cheering. The Sierra Club argues that reopening Palisades means that more dangerous nuclear waste will be stored along the Lake Michigan shore. […]
The tech companies declined interviews about their strategies. Some nuclear experts are skeptical they’ll foot enough of the bill to jump-start nuclear construction without more government help. Nonetheless, economic and environmental imperatives have come together to put nuclear energy back in the spotlight. The next couple of years will determine whether the technology is once again ready to shine.
