Constellation Energy Corp., the biggest US operator of nuclear reactors, will invest $1.6 billion to revive the one remaining reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. It's a sign of the times. Microsoft has inked a deal to buy all the power the new Three Mile Island plant can generate for 10 years. Microsoft needs a dedicated electricity source to run its data centers which will need massive amounts of power.
Constellation is shooting for 2028 as a target date to get Three Mile Island back on the grid. The one remaining reactor at the site was shut down in 2019 because it couldn't compete with other energy sources like natural gas or solar.
“Policymakers and the market have received a huge wake-up call,” Constellation Chief Executive Officer Joe Dominguez said in an interview. “There’s no version of the future of this country that doesn’t rely on these nuclear assets.”
Constellation is funding the revival of Three Mile Island out of its own pocket. And Microsoft was only too happy to step in and be first in line for the plant's revitalized output.
“That’s the thing with AI. They need a lot of power and as soon as you have it, they want it right away,” said James Mathes, who manages some DataBank facilities. “Right now, it’s like a blank check for AI."
"By 2034, global energy consumption by data centers is expected to top 1,580 TWh, about as much as is used by all of India," reports Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, the left has found another target to destroy. Artificial intelligence could be the death of humanity or it could create a new world better than this one. The jury is still out. But we'll never find out if the left short-circuits our discoveries by targeting AI as being an "energy hog."
The same anti-growth, anti-progress environmentalists that succeeded in halting the growth of the nuclear industry in the wake of Three Mile Island have in recent months turned their sights on AI. They've labeled the power-hungry industry an "energy hog" and "a threat to climate change."
It's an irony, then, that degrowth environmentalism's past enemy is seeing a revival to fuel its latest one.
The general public shouldn't be so worried. That AI is boosting demand for power is good news, not bad.
The fact is the future requires power and the plants needed to generate it. That we need new power plants at all is evidence that new things are happening and new things are being built.
Three Mile Island isn't the only decommissioned reactor being looked at as a possible solution to our energy needs in the AI age. Plans are underway to restart at least three other reactors as well. But this is a stop-gap measure. We need to start constructing new nuclear plants in earnest. Otherwise, we're going to be stuck trying to squeeze enough power from the existing grid trying to get more from less.
Wind and solar power are not the long-term solution to our energy needs. The only reason that we're pretending they are is to satisfy the climate change hysterics who insist on forcing us to endure blackouts and brownouts for the good of the planet because wind and solar power are falling far short of expectations. These are people who don't care if we have enough power to run industries and power our homes. They're willing to sacrifice our future to prove their doomsaying is correct.
Even if they're right, nuclear power won't contribute to the end of civilization and it might just save it.
