Three Mile Island new start project 'before the schedule'

Friday, February 28, 2025

Last September, Constellation signed a 20-year electricity removal contract with Microsoft to restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1 as Crane Clean Energy Center: The 837 MWE pressure water reactor was retired in 2019 for economic reasons.

Since then, more than 200 full -time employees have been hired for a variety of jobs, more than dozens were recruited to take over the key roles in the coming weeks, Constellation said in a last week. Work has started to train and licens the reactor operator and senior reactor operator. The main office building has been fully restored and the improvements of the training center and the control room simulator are almost complete.

Thousands of inspections and devices upgrades are required to ensure a safe and efficient restart, and these are also continued in the schedule, the company said. Strict inspections of the steam generator, the main generator, the rotor, the turbines, the feed water heating and the capacitors were carried out. A contract for the construction of three new main power transformers – one of the largest new device purchases required for the restart – was awarded and another USD 35 million invested to ensure that they reach the station in 2026.

A turbine blade in the Crane Clean Energy Center is subject to (picture: constellation)

The constellation has submitted a connection request with the regional transmission operator PJM so that the power supply current can be added to the network. It is also on the right path to submit all the necessary license and regulatory documents to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which has the ultimate authority to approve the restart. The supervisory authority kept its first public meeting over Crane at the end of October, and Constellation submitted its first restart plan on November 4th. A second public NRC meeting to give an overview of the Cosntiefation emergency plan for the location took place on February 19. All regulatory submissions of the constellation for the Crane Clean Energy Center are available from the NRC.

“Every new milestone confirms our conviction that the Crane Clean Energy Center can be returned to restore 835 megawatts with carbon -free energy to the regional network for a critical time for Pennsylvania and our nation,” said Joe Dominguez, President and CEO of Constellation, Joe Dominguez. “Maintenance and upgrades are before the plan, new devices have been ordered and we are making enormous progress in setting and training the next generation of specialists in order to operate the facility for first -class security and performance.”

An independent study by Brattle Group, which was published by Pennsylvania State Building & Construction Trades Council last September, showed that the restart will create 3,400 direct and indirect jobs to add 16 billion USD to Pennsylvanias GD in Pennsylvania and more than 3 billion US dollars in state and state Generate taxes.

At the time of his closure in 2019, Three Mile Island Unit 1 had an operational license that is valid until 2034. The constellation is intended to extend the operation to at least 2054 and expects the system to be ready by 2028. The NRC expects to change the application of the constellation to change the name of the work by May 23.