Rising electricity demand could bring Three Mile Island and other prematurely closed nuclear power plants back to life

Constellation, an energy company that supplies electricity and natural gas to its customers 16 states and Washingtonannounced on September 20, 2024 that it planned to achieve this Restore unit 1 and reboot at Three Mile Island, a nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania that was decommissioned in 2019. Microsoft has signed a 20-year contract to buy electricity generated by the plant to offset the facility needs of its data centers within the Mid-Atlantic region.

Three Mile Island was the positioning of 1 in 1979 partial collapse at reactor block 2 of the plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls this event “the most serious accident in the operating history of commercial nuclear power plants in the United States,” although only small amounts of radiation were released and no health effects were noted for plant employees or the general public. Block 1 was not affected by the accident. Professor of Nuclear Engineering on the University of Michigan Todd Allen explains what the restart of Unit 1 will entail and why another closed nuclear power plants may additionally be restarted.

What is the story of TMI-1?

Three Mile Island Block 1 is a big nuclear power plant with the capability to generate electricity 837 megawatts Electricity – enough to power around 800,000 homes. Commercial operations began in 1974 and ran until September 2019.

After the Unit 2 accident in 1979, Unit 1 was shut down for six years until the then-operator, Metropolitan Edison, demonstrated to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it could operate the reactor safely.

Constellation closed Unit 1 in 2019 though the facility plant's operating license not existed prolonged until 2034 and there have been no operational or issues of safety. At this point, TMI-1 couldn’t compete economically with natural gas-fired power plants because gas had grow to be extremely low-cost.

Pennsylvania also had a policy preference for increasing electricity generation from solar and wind power. The state parliament decided to not reclassify the power as a carbon-free source of electricity would have qualified it for presidency funding.

What is the present condition of the reactor?

The plant has been idle because it was shut down in 2019. The NRC calls this status secure storage or SAFSTOR. The plant is shut down, the uranium fuel is faraway from the reactor, and the plant is maintained in a secure, stable condition. Irradiated fuel is stored in large steel and concrete drums on a physically secured a part of the positioning, called Independent spent fuel storage facility.

In addition to the fuel, other materials within the plant are also radioactive, similar to structural channels that carry cooling water during operation and the massive container that houses the reactor. During the SAFSTOR period, radioactive decay occurs, which reduces the radioactivity of the power and makes it easier to dismantle the power later.

What does Constellation have to do to organize the reactor for restart?

Constellation needs to make sure it has enough fuel and adequately trained personnel. It must even be ensured that the reactor components are still in a condition that permits secure operation.

This requires detailed inspections and mandatory maintenance to make sure all components are functioning properly. In some cases, the corporate may have to put in latest equipment.

The exact work will rely on the outcomes of the inspections, but could also include upgrading or replacing the reactor's major components, similar to the turbine and associated power generator; large transformers that transport electricity from the reactor to the grid; Equipment for cooling the reactor during operation; and systems to manage the plant during startup, shutdown and power generation.

As an analogy, imagine you progress to a city and stop driving your automobile for five years. If you choose to drive again, it is advisable make sure that you might have gas, that your driver's license remains to be valid, and that every one of the vehicle's components are still working properly. To function well it might probably require latest oil, air within the tires, latest filters and other substitute parts.

A nuclear power plant is way more complicated than a automobile, so the variety of checks and inspections will take longer and be costlier. Constellation expects this bring the restored facility online in 2028 at a expected cost of $1.6 billion.

What will the NRC consider when deciding whether to reauthorize the reactor?

The agency must independently confirm that Constellation has sufficient fuel and trained personnel and that the power can operate safely. These controls have to be approved by the Commission before the power could be put into operation.

In my view, Constellation must show that the power is able to operating at the identical level of safety that existed there in September 2019 when the corporate ceased operations.

Do you expect other utilities to try any such remediation of closed reactors?

Constellation isn't the one utility considering restarting a nuclear power plant. Holtec Internationalan energy technology company, bought the decommissioned Palisades nuclear power plant in southwest Michigan in 2022 with the intention of decommissioning it, but then the corporate decided to achieve this Restoration and reopening of the power.

This work is now underway. Recently, the NRC found various components during its first major inspection on the plant, it said required further testing and repair work.

Wolverine Power Cooperativea nonprofit energy provider serving rural communities across Michigan, plans to buy electricity from the restored Palisades Plant with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Program to Strengthen Rural America. Holtec receives support for the Palisades restoration from the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Michigan.

A 3rd company, NextEra Energyis considering a restart Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant in Palo, Iowa. And others could follow. A dozen nuclear power plants have closed within the last decade before the top of their licensed period of operation because that they had difficulty competing economically. But with Electricity demand increasesSome of those facilities, particularly those operating data centers and electric vehicles, is also candidates for reopening.