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US nuclear regulator hears 3 Mile Island power plant reboot plan

Constellation Energy is making its case to bring back the operating license for its Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the first public meeting before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday on the extraordinary task to restart a retired reactor.

Constellation, which revealed last month that it had signed a 20-year power purchase arrangement with Microsoft that would allow the resuming Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island, is also seeking to extend the life of the plant and alter its name to the Crane Clean Energy Center.

3 Mile Island, situated in Pennsylvania, is extensively known for the 1979 partial meltdown of its Unit 2 reactor that was completely shut following the biggest nuclear accident in U.S. history.

The site's System 1 was shut due to financial factors in 2019, some 15 years before the license was set to end. Constellation finished initial screening this year and determined it was physically, and economically, possible to resurrect it.

We understand how we shut it down and we have a great concept of how we are going to restart this, plant supervisor Trevor Worth said at the NRC conference.

No nuclear reactor has been rebooted after being retired.

The 835-megawatt reactor, which is anticipated to reboot in 2028, would deliver power to the grid to offset electricity use by Microsoft's data center in the region.

The effort to restore 3 Mile Island, which is expected to start work in the very first quarter of 2025, cost at least $1.6. billion, and need countless workers, still requires. licensing adjustments and permitting. Regional activists have. likewise vowed to combat the project over safety and environmental. issues.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the NRC will be. needed to complete an ecological evaluation within the. final year of any restart. The plant will need other. environmental authorizations, including ones for air emissions and. water toxins.

(source: Reuters)