Constellation Energy Corp. said the company over the weekend marked the one-year anniversary of its plan to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 to help meet rising demands for energy.
Renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center (CCEC), which is located on Three Mile Island in Middletown, Pa., the plant will help strengthen grid reliability, restore jobs, and add a new source of emissions-free energy to the grid, said Constellation.
“I’m excited for projects like the Crane Clean Energy Center that will bring even more energy onto the grid because by creating more energy, we will create more opportunities for Pennsylvanians,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said.
Retired in 2019 for economic reasons, Crane’s restart is made possible through a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft.
“Six years ago, the closure of this plant symbolized more than a decade of policy failures that focused only on new clean energy resources that couldn’t match the reliability of nuclear energy, and both the security of our energy grid and air quality suffered,” said Constellation President and CEO Joe Dominguez. “Today it symbolizes the best in American innovation and an overdue recognition that we need to value and invest in existing sources of clean and reliable energy as we also build the grid of the future.
“As we confront the challenge of rising energy demand to support America’s economic growth, it’s critical that we look to Crane as a reminder of the consequences of not learning from past mistakes,” he added.
Since last year’s restart announcement, Constellation said it has accelerated the plant’s restart to 2027, hired hundreds of workers, and made significant progress.
At the same time, the project also has spurred state and federal policymakers and some of the world’s largest technology companies to partner with industry to increase investment in new and existing nuclear technology to power the digital economy and U.S. competitiveness, the company said.
Constellation said it is also pursuing investments in equipment and technology to increase the output from its existing nuclear plants in addition to the restart of CCEC. Together, it could add up to 2,000 megawatts of new, clean and reliable baseload capacity to the grid.
Some of the project milestones achieved during the past year include a nearly 80-percent staffed facility, with 500 full-time employees on-site and dozens more pending.
Inspections of steam generators, the main generator, emergency diesel generators, and underground piping also have been completed or are near completion, alongside significant enhancements to the training center and control room simulator, the company reported Monday.
Additionally, Constellation’s interconnection request to PJM Interconnection LLC, the regional grid operator, received accelerated approval, clearing the path for grid integration and allowing Constellation to accelerate the restart to 2027.
The company said that Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing and regulatory filings remain on track, and earlier this year, the NRC granted approval to rename the plant as the “Christopher M. Crane Clean Energy Center” to honor the late nuclear energy industry titan.
Among other milestones, Constellation said it is making good on its commitment to community investment, including more than $1 million in charitable giving over five years to support workforce development and local organizations.
Thus far this year, the company said it has donated $200,000 to more than a dozen local charities, nonprofit organizations, and workforce development programs.