The polarising push to bring decommissioned nuclear reactors back online in the US, as data centres powering artificial intelligence programmes increase energy demand, shows no sign of cooling off.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is to host a “question and answer” meeting on Thursday about the status of one of these decommissioned plants, known as “zombie reactors”.
The Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor in Pennsylvania is now known as the Crane Clean Energy Centre, following the 2024 announcement of a partnership between Constellation Energy and Microsoft. The technology giant agreed to a 20-year power purchase agreement to help fuel its data centres.
Critics have said the name change is an effort to erase history. TMI Unit 1 remained operational until it was shut down in 2019, but TMI Unit 2 was the site of one of the largest nuclear accidents in US history.
In late March 1979, the core of the plant was partially exposed, prompting a temporary evacuation of the nearby area and a lengthy clean-up around Middletown.
Those critical of restarting TMI Unit 1 say safety concerns remain, and insist that the economics behind nuclear energy do not make sense, even amid a push to supply data centres with energy.
“The NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] is a captured agency,” said Eric Epstein, director of Three Mile Island Alert, a grassroots safe energy organisation founded in 1977.
Mr Epstein cited several executive orders issued by President Donald Trump in May designed to expedite the construction of reactors and bolster nuclear energy in the US.
He also said he is worried about a recent announcement from the NRC that highlighted reorganisation work designed to “streamline decision-making, consolidate functions and align with national goals for more efficient licensing”.
“All the safety and environmental guardrails have been taken apart,” Mr Epstein said.
Scott Burnell, a public affairs official with the NRC, however, insisted that the commission will continue meeting its mission of "safely enabling nuclear technologies, including consideration of the Crane restart project" amid reorganisation plans.
"The NRC expects its review of Constellation’s requests to return Crane to an operational status will finish in March of 2027," he added.
"This is ample time to consider the evidence Constellation is providing, along with results of NRC inspections of the site, before the agency reaches a technically and legally justified decision."
Critics, meanwhile have continued to denounced aspects of project, particularly the $1 billion federal loan secured by Constellation Energy to bring the reactor back online.
“This should have never been a race, but that’s exactly what it is – it’s a sprint to get an ageing plant operating again,” Mr Epstein said.
He added that enthusiasm for data centres is not what it once was, referring to the environmental and noise nuisance concerns related to the sector.
In a recent opinion editorial appearing in The Hill, Neil Chatterjee, who served on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during Mr Trump's first term, spoke about the plans for TMI.
“It will never work,” he said. “A fully shutdown nuclear plant has never been restarted in America for good reason: there are too many regulatory, material and logistical hurdles to overcome.”
Mr Chatterjee said that although tempting to think otherwise, the reactor vessel inside TMI1 “could be brittle and fatigued” and that restarting a nuclear reactor isn't the same as simply switching it back on “like a light bulb”.
At the Palisades nuclear reactor in western Michigan, which was decommissioned in 2022, Mr Chatterjee's opinions seem to be playing out in real time.
AI data centre energy demands prompted plant owner Holtec to try to bring it back online. But hopes that it would return early this year have been stymied by regulatory concerns and questions from the NRC and complaints from those who oppose plans to put the reactor back online.
As of Wednesday, however, the NRC did give some exemptions to Holtec that would allow the company to "focus on safe restart" items.
In a statement to The National, the NRC emphasised that exemptions issued are unrelated to the Palisades restart effort, but rather "sets a new deadline for Holtec to file a request to renew the Palisades license, in order to qualify for protection against unforeseen regulatory or legal delays during the renewal review."
Amid the criticism and fears surrounding zombie reactors, there is ample excitement among proponents of the TMI1 Microsoft deal.
Constellation Energy has claimed that the reboot will create at least 3,000 jobs, and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro has thrown his support behind the project.
A group called Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania recently appealed for supporters of the TMI1 reboot to show their support at Thursday's NRC meeting.
“It’s one of the few moments in the NRC review process where the public is brought into the conversation in real time,” an email from the organisation reads. It also pushes for supporters to take part in a pre-meeting rally. “It's one of the only times you have to make your opinion heard.”
Constellation, meanwhile, has said that it expects TMI1 to be operational as soon as 2027.
A recent photo posted to the reactor's official Instagram account showed a food truck parked near one of the reactor's towers.
“Crane continues to host food lorries nearly every day to keep our workers fed with local, fresh and delicious food,” the caption read.
Another post depicted TMI1 surrounded by snow, with a caption reading that the sight would be more beautiful when the reactor “when it begins producing 835MW of reliable, emissions-free power in 2027”.
Mr Epstein and other critics, however, aren't backing down. “We're locked in and ready,” he said, adding that his group and others plan on challenging Constellation for as long as they can.
This article was updated shortly after publication to include several statements from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
