On September 20, Cai Lianshe (Editor Shi Zhengcheng) According to local time in the United States, on Friday morning, the largest clean energy supplier in the United States, $Constellation Energy (CEG.US)$ announced that, under the background of signing a 20-year power supply agreement with Microsoft, the restart of the No. 1 reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant has officially begun.

(Source: Constellation Energy)

Affected by this news, Constellation Energy jumped nearly 14% after opening on Friday, refreshing its stock price record high. At the same time, the small nuclear reactor start-up company $Oklo Inc (OKLO.US)$ Surged more than 20%. $Vistra Energy (VST.US)$ Rising more than 8%, uranium mining stocks. $Cameco (CCJ.US)$ Similarly, stocks of related concepts also rose significantly.

Microsoft's 'cash capability' is driving the restart of nuclear power stations

In its announcement, United Energy announced that it has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft as a prerequisite for the restart of the nuclear power plant. United Energy particularly emphasized that this is the largest order the company has ever signed.

It should be noted that Three Mile Island is also a dark chapter in US nuclear history, where the most serious commercial nuclear power plant accident in US history occurred. In the early hours of March 28, 1979, there was a nuclear meltdown accident in Reactor 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. The cleanup work continued until 1993, costing nearly $1 billion (equivalent to $2 billion today). It is reported that the dismantling of the accident reactor is still ongoing.

The No.1 reactor involved in this contract is located next to the reactor involved in the accident and resumed operation only in 1985 after the accident. United Energy bought this unit in 1999 and operated it until 2019, when it was forced to close due to the rise of cheaper natural gas, wind energy, and solar energy. From 2012 to 2022, a total of 13 nuclear reactors in the United States were closed, with poor economic performance being the core reason.

After obtaining the contract from Microsoft, United Energy expects to spend $1.6 billion to refurbish the No.1 reactor, and it will not restart operation until 2028, with the timeline subject to regulatory approval.

Joseph Dominguez, CEO of United Energy, said that this event has significant symbolic meaning. It was once the site of the largest failure in the US nuclear power industry and now has the potential to be a place of rebirth. Dominguez emphasized that the company will fully fund the refurbishment of the nuclear power plant, while Microsoft will bear the responsibility for purchasing power from the plant for 20 years. The entire process does not require any money from the state government or utility customers.

It is reported that due to the negative connotation of the name Three Mile Island, the media image of the plant will also be updated during the renovation. The nuclear power plant will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center in memory of Chris Crane, the former CEO of United Energy who passed away in April of this year.

The AI boom is driving the revival of nuclear energy.

With the surge in energy demand from tech giants, combined with their commitment to carbon reduction, nuclear energy is becoming an increasingly important option.

In March of this year, Amazon purchased a datacenter park from Talon Energy Corporation with its own nuclear power supply. Oracle also recently announced that it is designing a datacenter powered by three small nuclear reactors.

Considering that the approval and construction process for building a new nuclear power plant is very lengthy, restarting decommissioned old nuclear power plants has also been brought up. The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan is expected to become the first restarted and operational nuclear power plant in US history and is estimated to resume power supply by the end of 2025. In sequence, the Three Mile Island nuclear power station mentioned in this article will be the second one.

Of course, restarting a nuclear power plant built in the previous century is not an easy task. It is reported that Exelon has been inspecting this reactor for the past 20 months, looking for signs of corrosion or aging. The company needs to replace the main power transformer of the reactor and restore the operation of the turbine and cooling system.

If successfully restored, Unit 1 of Three Mile Island will have a generation capacity of 835 megawatts, enough to power over 0.7 million households. Of course, the intended recipient of this nuclear power plant will be Microsoft's datacenter.

Editor/Somer