The United States Department of Energy has closed a US$1 billion (C$1.37 billion) loan to Constellation Energy to restart the idle reactor at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, now branded the Crane Clean Energy Centre. The federal financing, issued through the Loan Programs Office, is the first time the agency has converted a conditional commitment and closed the deal on the same day, according to an Associated Press report.
Constellation plans to bring the 835-megawatt unit back online in 2027, one year ahead of its original schedule. The plant last produced power in 2019, five kilometres south of Harrisburg, after market conditions erased its profit margin. Rapid growth in artificial-intelligence data centres has revived demand for large blocks of carbon-free electricity.
Microsoft deal underpins demand
Constellation’s restart plan is anchored by a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft, signed in late 2024, that will channel zero-emission output into the tech firm’s expanding data-centre fleet. The arrangement gives the project a predictable revenue stream and helped satisfy federal credit-risk tests.
Constellation estimates the overall restart will cost roughly US$1.6 billion (C$2.19 billion), an investment that includes cooling-tower upgrades, a new main transformer, and fresh nuclear fuel. It has hired more than 500 staff and begun detailed component inspections. Local officials expect about 3,400 direct and indirect jobs once construction peaks.
Greg Beard, head of the Loan Programs Office, said the transaction supports reliability in the PJM Interconnection, which serves 65 million customers. “This type of energy is important because it’s large, stable, affordable base-load power,” he told reporters earlier this month.
Loan aims to catalyse private capital
The debt carries an interest rate below prevailing commercial terms and is fully guaranteed by Constellation, a structure meant to shield taxpayers if the restart falters. The Loan Programs Office still holds more than US$250 billion in authority and is prioritising nuclear projects as demand growth resumes after two decades of stagnation. Constellation says the federal backing will lower its weighted cost of capital and unlock additional private financing for auxiliary works, including grid-interconnection upgrades approved by PJM in June.
Joe Dominguez, Constellation’s chief executive, welcomed the rapid approval. “DOE’s quick action and leadership is another huge step towards bringing hundreds of megawatts of reliable nuclear power onto the grid at this critical moment,” he said in a statement. Project managers report that 80 per cent of required staff are already in place and that procurement of long-lead components is underway.
Three Mile Island’s second unit, shuttered after the 1979 accident, will remain permanently retired and sealed. Environmental groups continue to raise concerns about waste storage, noting the absence of a federal repository. Even so, Pennsylvania legislators have voiced support, citing the state’s long nuclear tradition and the economic lift promised by the Crane restart.
Constellation still needs Nuclear Regulatory Commission consent for refuelling and state water permits, but executives say the timeline is holding. If approvals land on schedule, construction will move into full swing next summer, setting the stage for the reactor’s first criticality in early 2027.