Microsoft-backed Three Mile Island reboot meets data centre backlash
A 262-tonne transformer that had been shipped from South Korea arrived in Pennsylvania this week as the US state pushes ahead with plans to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor . The restart of the plant, which suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, has emerged as a crucial test to see whether the tech companies driving the artificial intelligence race can build new power sources without…
A 262-tonne transformer from South Korea arrived in Pennsylvania as the state pushes to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor, which had a partial meltdown in 1979. The reactor, now named the Crane Clean Energy Centre, is being restarted by Constellation Energy, with Microsoft pledging to provide energy for its data centres through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The AI boom drives the need for power to handle increasing data processing demands, but the plan has faced backlash due to concerns over rising energy costs and environmental impacts. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat with presidential ambitions, signed new regulations to hold data centre developers accountable and make it harder to build without meeting certain requirements.
However, the restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1, located near the site of the worst US nuclear disaster in 1979, continues to face opposition from environmental and safety groups.
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