How Microsoft will restart the “American Chernobyl” and why AI needs more and more resources

Artificial intelligence is developing and requires more and more resources. Microsoft Corporation has already understood this – and therefore they are restoring the “American Chernobyl”, the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

A nuclear incident at the nuclear power plant occurred in 1979, after which one of the power units of the plant stopped working , and the other worked from 1985 to 2019. Then the station was closed due to economic reasons. Now the tech giant has signed an agreement to restore it in 2028.

Channel 24 tells what happened on Three Mile Island in 1979 and how nuclear power plants will be restored in the XXI century.

How “American Chernobyl” will help artificial intelligence

Three Mile Island – small compared to Ukrainian counterparts. The nuclear power plant in the state of Pennsylvania has only two power units and is located on Three Mile Island on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg.

In 1974, the first power unit of the station began operation, in 1978 – second. In 1979, the second power unit had an accident with the melting of about half of the reactor core. But, unlike the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there was no large-scale environmental pollution on Three Mile Island.

In the fall of 2024, the closed nuclear power plant got a second chance at life. Microsoft Corporation has signed an agreement to resume its work. If the deal is approved by the regulator, the tech giant will have exclusive rights to all the energy produced for its AI data center.

The plant is due to restart in 2028, according to a statement by Constellation, which owns the plant. .

The reactor from which Microsoft plans to obtain energy was decommissioned in 2019 for economic reasons and is located next to the unit that was closed in 1979 after the worst nuclear accident in US history. The upgraded reactor that Constellation plans to launch will generate 837 megawatts of energy. This is enough to power more than 800,000 homes. The amount of electricity that Microsoft needs to develop AI is so huge.

The NPP will get a new name – Crane Clean Energy Center in honor of the late Chris Crane, former CEO of US nuclear power plant operator Exelon (formerly Constellation).

Interesting! Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in Wyoming is building an innovative sodium reactor plant in the US to provide clean and safe energy. Gates is ready to invest billions in the project to do without Russia, and supports energy independence of the USA.

TerraPower technology uses liquid sodium instead of water, which is an innovation on the market and will contribute to the fight against climate change.

Why it matters and how much it will cost

Because of Microsoft's focus on artificial intelligence, the tech giant's carbon footprint is growing, which is at odds with ambitious climate goals. According to Bloomberg, the restarted nuclear power plant will help the corporation with plans to transition to clean energy and provide data center expansion in Chicago, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

This deal is an important milestone in Microsoft's efforts to help decarbonize the energy grid as part of our commitment to become a carbon negative system. Microsoft continues to work with energy providers to develop carbon-free energy sources to help meet grid capacity and reliability needs,
– says Bobby Shollis, Microsoft's vice president of energy.

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Microsoft's new bet – next-generation small nuclear reactors to power data centers and ambitious plans for artificial intelligence. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is also convinced that nuclear energy can help humanity solve the problem of climate change.

Constellation is investing $1.6 billion in renovating the plant, but that could be hampered by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and approvals from state and local agencies. Constellation is also seeking a license extension to keep the plant operating until at least 2054.

What Happened at Three Mile Island

The 1979 River Island NPP accident was rated Level 5 (an accident with a risk to the environment) on the INES scale, which evaluates nuclear events. For comparison, the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters received level 7 – big accident.

On March 28, 1979, the pumps at the second power unit failed, which stopped the water supply to the steam generators – the valves on the pump head were closed due to repairs that were completed a few days before the accident. The reactor shut down and a valve failure caused a coolant leak that lasted for over two hours.

Next, due to operator error and equipment failures, a series of events occurred that led to a partial meltdown of the reactor core. But the reactor housing was not sealed, due to which the radioactive materials mostly remained inside and it was possible to avoid serious pollution of the environment.

The accident at Three Mile Island had other consequences – it sparked protest movements across the United States demanding a halt to the development of nuclear power. Demonstrations took place, in particular, in Washington and New York.

Interesting! On the eve of the accident, the film “China Syndrome” about the accident at the fictional nuclear power plant in the USA was released. Coincidentally, one of the characters talked about an accident at a nuclear power plant that “could lead to radioactive contamination of an area the size of Pennsylvania.”

The Shoreham NPP near New York faced protests after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents. Launched in 1986, the station operated for only three years due to protests from local residents.

After the accident, a series of epidemiological studies analyzing cancer rates in and around the station confirmed a marked increase in cancer incidence.

The second power unit itself was cleaned after the incident for 14 years – from 1979 to 1993. The total cost of the works amounted to about a billion dollars (at current prices – twice as much). The first power unit after shutdown was restarted in 1985 and decommissioned in 2019 due to operational losses.

In March 2024, the US Department of Energy  announced that it would provide a loan guarantee of $1.5 billion for the reconstruction of the closed Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan. The 800 MW single-unit nuclear power plant was closed in May 2022.

In October 2023, Holtec applied for a license to operate Palisades with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the intention of receiving financial assistance from the Department of Energy. Holtec plans to add two small modular reactors to the NPP.

The interest of technology companies in the development of nuclear energy shows a departure from the policy of the past years, when nuclear power plants were considered dangerous due to fairly rare accidents.

The behavior of the “gas station country” that attacked Ukraine and the need for energy for high technologies is gradually forcing the world to return to an ecologically clean and at the same time powerful energy source – atom.

Regarding the prospects of Chernobyl as a platform for modern technologies – they are doubtful both because of the radiation contamination of the territory and because of the proximity of the totalitarian regimes of Belarus and Russia. However, the sites of old Ukrainian thermal power plants may well be suitable for such a role.