Three Mile Island owner outlines reopening schedule at public hearing

The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant hopes to get a new license — and a new name for the plant — to operate in three years.

Constellation has provided a schedule for restarting the plant during public meeting Friday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Constellation has reached a deal with Microsoft to supply enough electricity to the regional grid to power the technology company’s data centers as part of Microsoft’s commitment to reduce climate-warming pollution from its operations.

NRC Regional Counsel Brett Klucan asked when regulators could better understand Constellation’s relationship with Microsoft to see if there are ethical conflicts that NRC employees should be aware of, such as Microsoft stock ownership. The group’s leaders present at the meeting said they could only talk about the nuclear side of operations, not the commercial aspects.

The total cost of the relaunch has not been disclosed. Constellation has applied for a $1.6 billion loan from the Department of Energy but has not yet received approval. Constellation has not and will not use money from the decommissioning trust fund to support the plant’s restart, said senior manager of volume licensing Dennis Moore. Every nuclear power plant in the country has a trust fund that provides final cleanup when the plants stop producing power.

Over the next year, Constellation plans to conduct an environmental assessment of the site and submit emergency plans and safety protocols. Constellation will need to estimate when to evacuate the plant, as it last did in 2014, NRC officials said. The study aims to show how long it would take to escape the danger zone in the event of a nuclear accident.

Constellation also plans to change the name of Three Mile Island Unit 1 to the Crane Clean Energy Center. The change must be approved by the NRC as part of the license amendment.

TMI Unit 1 closed in 2019 due to stagnant demand and increased competition from cheaper natural gas and renewables. TMI Unit 2 partially melted in 1979 and never reopened.

Hiring will take place in three waves over three years. Constellation said it will hire both internal and external candidates.

Spokesman David Marcheski said there are now more 200 positions available and published as Constellation expands its recruitment drive. He said full staffing levels now stand at 730 employees – up from an initial estimate of 600 – over the next three years.

The first hiring priority will be nuclear operators. Operators must complete an 18-month training program and pass a test in order for the plant to be licensed to generate electricity. The average salary for nuclear power operators is $120,350, according to the Department of Labor.

Constellation has already begun refurbishing and replacing equipment at the plant, including a simulator that will be used for operator training. Restoration work will continue over the next three years.

Plant manager Trevor Orth said chemical cleaning and pressure testing carried out earlier this year revealed no major problems with the equipment.

“I’m not saying there was no work, but it was like a typical power outage,” Orth said. Shutdowns are periods when a plant is idle for scheduled maintenance and repairs.

There are known deficiencies that need to be corrected, Orth said. For example, some water pipes were destroyed for safety reasons when the plant closed. The internal structure of one cooling tower was demolished because it became a fire hazard.

Orth said about 100 people who worked for TMI when it was operating are now working to restart the plant, giving the plant a good base of experience to return to operation.

Constellation’s plan assumes that NRC review and approval of a new operating license will take about two years. The company hopes to obtain an operating license by the fourth quarter of 2027 and begin generating power in 2028.

Plans are subject to change as Constellation progresses through the NRC regulatory process.

Here’s Constellation’s proposed schedule for reopening the plant:

Until June 2025: Restore training simulator

Until December 2027: Plant restoration

November 2024: Submit to the NRC a Restoration Quality Assurance Plan (this is a new type of document that takes into account the plant’s current decommissioning status and its restart plan). Request an exemption from restrictive restrictions prohibiting the operation of the reactor and the placement of fuel in the reactor vessel.

December 2024: Submit a steam generator report after inspection (steam generators are critical equipment for power generation).

February 2025: Submit a license amendment request to change the name from Three Mile Island to Crane Clean Energy Center.

March 2025: Provide a revised decommissioning report and fuel management plan.

From April to June 2025: Request to cancel license exemptions associated with decommissioning. Ask the NRC to review the simulator used for training. Begin training for licensed and unlicensed nuclear operators.

July 2025: Provide an environmental report. Provide the license to operate and amendments to the technical specifications, as well as the proposed updated final safety analysis report.

September 2025: Provide a revised emergency plan.

November 2025: Provide a revised physical security plan.

From April to June 2027: Constellation performs enterprise self-assessment.

July 2027: Send a letter indicating your readiness to work.

August 2027: Expect the NRC and FEMA to complete their evaluation of the contingency plan.

From October to December 2027: Return to a licensed basis for reactor operation.

This story was created in collaboration with StateImpact Pennsylvaniaa collaboration between WESA, The Allegheny Front, WITF and WHYY.