‘Pennsylvania is on the rise’: state and business leaders celebrate plans to reopen Three Mile Island nuclear reactor

More than 400 new and returning employees slated to work at the rebranded Three Mile Island nuclear power plant gathered on Wednesday at the Middletown facility, now known as the Crane Clean Energy Center, to celebrate the planned reopening of the Three Mile Island Unit 1 – which could open as soon as 2027, according to Constellation, the owner of the reactor. 

Last year, Constellation announced plans to restart TMI Unit 1 after reaching a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft. The company plans to use energy generated from the plant to power its data centers, as energy demand is expected to grow due to the development of power-hungry artificial intelligence tools.

Crane Clean Energy Center workers were joined by Gov. Josh Shapiro, Constellation President and CEO Joe Dominguez, PJM Interconnection President and CEO Manu Asthana, and Bobby Hollis, Microsoft’s vice president of energy, to tout the restart of the nuclear reactor. 

“Folks shouldn't sleep on nuclear,” Shapiro said on Wednesday, adding that the restart of the reactor is evidence that “Pennsylvania is on the rise.” 

“They should be aware of the important clean role it plays in our energy portfolio. I’’m excited about how this power plant will be open, bringing more energy onto the grid. By creating more energy, we will create more opportunities for all Pennsylvanians,” the governor said.

The relaunch of the reactor will result in an additional 835 megawatts of energy being added to the PJM-operated grid, equivalent to approximately 800,000 homes, according to Constellation. The reactor was shut down in 2019 due to economic reasons, despite a last-minute effort by state lawmakers to save the plant – an effort that ultimately failed.

Constellation plans to invest $1.6 billion in reviving the plant, which proponents say will yield a range of economic benefits for the region. 

An economic impact study commissioned by the Pennsylvania Building & Construction Trades Council, which supports the project, estimates that the project could create 3,400 direct and indirect jobs, including the 600 full-time positions at the plant. The report also suggests that the Crane Clean Energy Center could result in $800 million in state tax revenue, an additional $2.8 billion in federal tax revenue and $16 billion in state gross domestic product.

TMI Unit 1 is owned and operated separately from Unit 2, which is owned by a subsidiary of EnergySolutions and suffered a partial meltdown in 1979. Unit 2 has been permanently shut down since then, with 99% of its fuel removed. 

The event began with a rally led by Building Trades President Rob Bair and Constellation’s Grace Stanke. Bair said he has firsthand experience of how nuclear power jobs can benefit Pennsylvania families, recalling his family’s ties to the industry.

“You wonder why I’m passionate about nuclear energy. My father … was here from the original build of Unit 1 and Unit 2, and as a kid, that plant put meals on my table, a roof over my head, clothes on my back. That would not have happened without nuclear energy,” Bair said. “These are fantastic permanent jobs, they are fantastic construction jobs and these are the type of jobs that have the biggest impact on our communities.”

Several current workers at Crane Clean Energy Center spoke about the significance of the nuclear reactor and the jobs it provides. Tori and Quinn VanderMeersch, a couple who previously worked at the power plant prior to its closure in 2019, are considered “boomerang employees” – employees who were forced to leave the area and have since been rehired at Crane Clean Energy Center. The couple said they were “devastated” when Unit 1 was shut down in 2019. 

“This was our home,” Tori Vandermeersch said on Wednesday, adding that they were forced to move to another state as a result. They’ve since moved back to Hershey as a result of the plans to restart the reactor. “Now we have the opportunity to come back, be part of this awesome restart, bring our daughters and our family and friends back with us.”

Constellation also highlighted its contributions to the greater Harrisburg community, as the company plans to make $1 million in community contributions over the next five years. The company said it has already donated $185,000 to community organizations this year, and announced two new donations on Wednesday. Constellation donated $25,000 to Lower Dauphin Communities That Care’s Bookmobile, as well as $20,000 to Veterans Outreach of Pennsylvania, the nonprofit behind a village of 15 tiny homes serving homeless veterans in south Harrisburg. 

The celebration comes as tech companies seek reliable sources of energy for their data centers and other AI-related infrastructure. Earlier this month, Amazon announced that it would be investing $20 billion to develop data centers in Luzerne and Bucks counties, an investment that is slated to generate 1,250 permanent jobs and thousands of construction jobs. 

Both Hollis and Asthana emphasized the role of nuclear energy in powering the AI boom in the United States. 

An April 2025 report from the International Energy Agency predicted that global data center electricity generation would double from existing levels to approximately 945 terawatt-hours by 2030. In the U.S., data centers are expected to account for nearly half of all electricity demand growth between now and 2030, according to the agency. “By the end of the decade, the country is set to consume more electricity for data centres than for the production of aluminium, steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined,” the report reads. 

Hollis said Microsoft was attracted to Three Mile Island due to the existing nuclear energy infrastructure on the island. 

“We knew that the growth of AI and the infrastructure required to support that revolutionary new technology – we had to think very differently about finding opportunities for carbon-free energy to get scale as quickly as we could, and scaling growing fast,” Hollis said. “We really said, ‘How do we find a place where we can move that very, very fast? Where are those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that we can bring back nuclear power or stand up nuclear power that can actually match the growth of our AI infrastructure?’ That’’s what led us here to the Crane Clean Energy Center.”

Asthana said workers at the Middletown facility will be key to ensuring the U.S. emerges victorious over China and other nations in the global AI arms race.

“Strategically, for our country, for our state, for our region, it is critical that we win that race,” Asthana said. “The power that you produce here is critical to winning that race. That is one of the biggest constraints to the development and growth of this new technology … so the work that you are doing here to start this plant – it matters. It matters to this community. It matters to our country.”