A 262-tonne transformer that had been shipped from South Korea arrived in Pennsylvania this week as the US state pushes ahead with plans to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.
The restart of the plant, which suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, has emerged as a crucial test to see whether the tech companies driving the artificial intelligence race can build new power sources without attracting more public fury, amid a backlash over rising energy costs and environmental concerns.
On Wednesday, the company behind the Three Mile Island refurbishment, Constellation Energy, shared video of the first of three massive transformers arriving at the site in Middletown, on the back of an oversized lorry. Constellation Energy is restarting the reactor's Unit 1 and has renamed it the Crane Clean Energy Centre.
Plans for the restart of Unit 1 are rooted in the AI boom, which needs energy to power the proliferation of data centres that help to handle mushrooming processing needs.
The reboot is rooted in a 2024 announcement of a partnership between Constellation and Microsoft. As part of the deal, Microsoft agreed to a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation to help provide energy for its data centres.
A lot has changed since 2024, and public sentiment about AI and data centres has taken a turn.
A fast-growing backlash against the construction of data centres has emerged as a key issue before the US midterm elections in November. Communities are upset by the noise that data centres sometimes make, their huge demand for water for cooling, and rising electricity bills.
Voters are also becoming increasingly wary of the impact that AI will have on the labour market.
This week, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, responded to the public's souring mood towards data centres. He signed off on new rules and regulations that he said would make data centre developers more accountable to residents of Pennsylvania and, in turn, make it more difficult for developers to build without fulfilling certain requirements.
Mr Shapiro, seen by many as eyeing a presidential run in 2028, has been a staunch proponent for restarting Three Mile Island's (TMI) Unit 1, which has been offline since 2019.
A representative from his office told The National that despite the recent crackdown on data centre development, the governor still supports the partnership between Constellation and Microsoft.
“He's an all of the above energy governor,” the representative said, referencing several forms of energy, including nuclear.
The representative also said the Three Mile Island reboot addressed some AI criticism because the Microsoft partnership ensured that the technology giant was contributing energy to the grid.
Still, the partnership between Constellation Energy and Microsoft continues to raise concerns.
Worst US nuclear disaster
TMI Unit 1 is near TMI Unit 2, the site of one of the largest nuclear accidents in US history.
In March 1979, the core of TMI Unit 2 was partially exposed, prompting a temporary evacuation of the nearby area and a lengthy clean-up around Middletown that continues to this day.
That disaster led to the creation of Three Mile Island Alert, a grass roots energy safety organisation in Pennsylvania.
TMI Alert president Eric Epstein said the organisation was challenging the restart of TMI Unit 1 every step of the way.
Safety concerns aside, Mr Epstein highlighted the $1 billion taxpayer loan provided to Constellation last year to help expedite the restart.
His group has also taken issue with the reactor's proposed use of water from the adjacent Susquehanna River.
“Although the Susquehanna River Basin Commission allowed increased water consumption at Three Mile Island, almost all of the 440 public comments were in opposition,” he said, referring to the pushback from residents in and around the reactor's operating area.
Mr Epstein also said that despite Mr Shapiro backing the Three Mile Island restart, the anti-AI tide would continue to gain momentum.
“Elections will decide the fate of Three Mile Island, and November 2026 comes before the proposed restart,” he said. “Blind support of data centres and nuclear power has led to increased electric prices and water depletion.”
Mr Epstein added that TMI Alert is litigating various aspects of the reactor's restart in federal court and challenging the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's decision to approve a licence for the reactor.
Meanwhile, Constellation Energy still needs to make it through the many regulatory hurdles posed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to begin operating again.
Constellation Energy does not seem rattled.
“This is a huge milestone in our efforts to bring 835MW of reliable, emissions-free power back online in 2027,” the company's statement read in a video showing the transformer making its way to Three Mile Island.
