DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — In just a few years, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant will be known as Crane Clean Energy Center.
The plan is to have Unit 1 power Microsoft data centers.
“It’s a big impact to the township itself,” said Londonderry Township Supervisor, Anna Dale.
Dale says she knew people who lost their jobs after the plant shut down in 2019 for economic reasons.
“In my own neighborhood there have been one or two that actually had to move after the plant closed [and] they lost their jobs," Dale explained. "Those kinds of impacts have been personal for a lot of residents.”
Constellation purchased Unit 1 in 1999. Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Preis says the plant provided several financial benefits to the area during its operation.
“The impact was 675 full-time jobs, family-sustaining jobs, 16 million annual payrolls, a million dollars of taxes each year to the Lower Dauphin School District, Londonderry Township and the county,” Preis said.
Unit 1 ran independently after the Unit 2 accident in 1979, considered to be the worst nuclear accident on US soil.
According to TMI-2 Solutions, a subsidiary of Energy Solutions that owns Unit 2, the accident happened due to an interruption of secondary feedwater flow.
Officials believe enough safety measures are in place to prevent another mishap.
“We learned a lot from that accident," Dale said. "Technology has changed tremendously. We’re looking at smaller units, I think our engineering, construction, all those aspects have been developed and invested in over the last decade or so."
“Since the accident, I would actually say nuclear energy is probably one of the safest energy forms in the world,” Preis added.
But the anti-nuclear group, TMI Alert, is not convinced.
“Nuclear power has never solved the 3 w’s; where’s the water going to come from, where is the waste going to go, and why is Wall Street sitting on the sidelines," said Eric Epstein. "Until those issues are addressed, and they are welcome to compete on the marketplace like anyone else, they can’t compete.”
Constellation Energy is seeking approval from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to begin operations in the next five years.
The company is also seeking permits from local and state agencies.
