The Trump administration is issuing a $1 billion loan to help finance the restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
Three Mile Island was the name of a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, one of whose reactors partially melted down in 1979, becoming one of the U.S.’s highest profile nuclear incidents.
Last year, Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a deal to reopen an unaffected reactor at the plant to power data centers. It was last operational in 2019.
The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it was closing a $1 billion loan with Constellation to help finance the project, known as the Crane Clean Energy Center.
It said that the funds come through the the Energy Dominance Financing Program, which seeks to “retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that have ceased operations.” The Trump administration’s “big, beautiful bill” put $1 billion toward this program.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a written statement that “the United States is taking unprecedented steps to lower energy costs and bring about the next American nuclear renaissance.”
“Constellation’s restart of a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania will provide affordable, reliable, and secure energy to Americans across the Mid-Atlantic region. It will also help ensure America has the energy it needs to grow its domestic manufacturing base and win the AI race,” he added.
If the restart receives approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it is expected to be able to generate 835 megawatts, enough energy to power approximately 800,000 homes.