MIDDLETOWN, PA. - Businesses in Dauphin County are making a renewed push for the state to step in and keep Three Mile Island nuclear plant operational. Business owners and community leaders met in Middletown to point out the economic benefits of the power plant. TMI is currently going through a refueling operation, which brings 1,200 people to Central Pennsylvania to perform maintenance on the plant's reactors. The project is completed every two years and local business owners say it drives an economic boost.
"The 1,200 jobs that are here right now, every other September, refueling, are huge jobs too," said Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries. "36,000 room nights are being used right now by those 1,200 employees. If nothing is done at the state level, these jobs are going to go away. This is a multi-million hit for our local economy."
The plant also employees 675 people full time. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to close the plant in September of 2019.