The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has held a public meeting to review plans for reopening the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.

During the meeting, the company announced plans to file an application to rename the facility as the Crane Clean Energy Center. Executives added that they intend to submit regulatory documents for the plant starting in November.

Constellation Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island – Constellation

NRC members sought details on the emergency evacuation plans for the plant’s reopening and the commercial agreement with Microsoft.

The NRC also inquired about how the planned restart of Unit 1 would align with the decommissioning process for Unit 2, which began last year.

EnergySolutions owns Unit 2 and related infrastructure, while Constellation owns Unit 1 and the site's land.

Constellation will invest $1.6 billion to restart the dormant reactor it purchased in 1999 and will pursue a license renewal that will extend plant operations to at least 2054.

Unit 1 was shut down in 2019 due to economic constraints, 15 years before the operating license was set to expire.

As mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act, the NRC must finalize an environmental assessment within the last year before any restart.

The plant will also need additional environmental permits, including those regulating air emissions and water pollutants.

NRC Spokesperson Scott Burnell said Constellation must submit a quality assurance plan, environmental reports, various license requests, and an exemption request to operate the plant again.

“Back in 2019, they gave us a legal document saying they would never operate the plant again," said Burnell. "If they want to reverse that, they need an exemption from our rules to give them the ability to take back those representations."

Local activists have opposed the plans and vowed to fight the restart over safety and environmental concerns, namely nuclear waste storage on the site.

"I have a constitutional right to know how my nuclear plants are operating, and the utility ought to be able to answer that," said Scott Portzline, who is with nuclear watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert

In September, Microsoft announced plans to 100 percent of a revived nuclear power plant through a 20-year PPA. Constellation hopes to open the 837MW Pennsylvania facility in 2028. 100 percent of the power will go to Microsoft to match the power used by its data centers in Pennsylvania, Chicago, Virginia, and Ohio.

More and more companies have expressed interest in restarting nuclear plants across the US to fuel the increasing demand for AI data centers for energy.

Most recently, Utility NextEra Energy announced it is considering restarting the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa, thanks to strong interest from data centers.