The most infamous address in American nuclear history is getting a second act. Constellation Energy is pressing ahead with plans to restart the reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, now rebranded as the Crane Clean Energy Center, with operations targeted for the second half of 2027.
The project carries a price tag of roughly $1.6 billion and comes with something most energy ventures would kill for: a guaranteed customer. Microsoft has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement for the plant’s full output of approximately 835 megawatts, all earmarked for feeding the tech giant’s growing fleet of data centers.
From shutdown to restart, with a billion-dollar boost
The reactor, formerly known as Three Mile Island Unit 1, was economically shut down in September 2019 after more than four decades of operation. It’s worth noting this is a different unit from the one involved in the partial meltdown in 1979, which remains permanently closed.
The NRC approved the facility’s name change to the Christopher M. Crane Clean Energy Center on May 13, 2025, a symbolic step in distancing the site from its complicated past. A potential restart decision from regulators is anticipated as early as June 2026.
