$1B loan revives Three Mile Island for Microsoft

A mothballed reactor at Three Mile Island is getting a second life thanks to Microsoft’s power-hungry data centers and a $1 billion loan from the Department of Energy, five years after shutting down amid natural gas competition.

The Trump administration has approved a $1 billion loan to restart Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 reactor in Pennsylvania, which will supply power exclusively to Microsoft data centers, GCR reports.

The move highlights surging electricity demand from the computing industry’s expansion.

The facility, site of America’s worst commercial nuclear accident in 1979, shut down its operating reactor in 2019 due to competition from cheaper natural gas.

Last September, owner Constellation Energy secured a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft to restart the unit, adding 835MW to the regional grid.

The Department of Energy fast-tracked the deal, simultaneously finalizing both the conditional loan commitment and financial close – an unprecedented move.

Now rebranded as the Crane Clean Energy Center, the facility is targeting a 2027 restart with over 500 workers conducting inspections and regulatory reviews.