The mastermind behind the plan to reopen the nuclear plant that caused America’s worst reactor accident came up with the idea after learning that technology CEOs were desperately seeking energy to power artificial intelligence.
Constellation Energy and Microsoft announced a power purchase agreement in September to reopen the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
The plant is home to the worst commercial nuclear power accident after the Unit 2 reactor suffered a partial meltdown due to mechanical failure and human error in 1979.
Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy, said he came up with the idea after OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman revealed that data centers for some AI models would require as much energy as a large city during a directors’ meeting. executives in May 2023.
“My first reaction is, ‘Wow, these guys are going to be in for a rude awakening about how much power is actually going to be available,'” Dominguez said. The Wall Street Journal. “It was like I was struck by lightning.”
Constellation Energy and Microsoft announced a power purchase agreement in September to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant (pictured) in Pennsylvania.
Joe Dominguez (pictured), CEO of Constellation Energy, said he came up with the plan after learning that technology CEOs were looking for energy to power artificial intelligence.
The most advanced AI models are expected to need five gigawatts of power, as much as five nuclear reactors, and there is nowhere in the United States where it will be easy to connect data centers of that magnitude, according to the WSJ.
Constellation executives named the project Tetris, after the video game, and quickly set out to investigate how they could meet the energy demand that technology CEOs needed.
DomÃnguez said he told his colleagues: ‘Saddle up. “I want to understand in five weeks if we can do this.”
Constellation engineers determined that it might be possible to restart Three Mile Island.
The Unit 1 reactor located at TMI Unit 2 was closed in 1979 after its partial meltdown. Its twin, the rector of Unit 2, was in operation until 2019.
To restart Unit 2, Constellation will invest $1.6 billion in the turbine, generator, main power transformer, and control and cooling systems.
Dominguez then had to get Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s support for the measure. The two met for the first time last December, and the CEO said Shapiro asked him about the condition of the plant and whether it could be restarted safely and at no cost to the state.
Three Mile Island is home to the worst commercial nuclear power accident after the Unit 2 reactor suffered a partial meltdown due to mechanical failure and human error in 1979.
The Unit 1 reactor located at TMI Unit 2 was closed in 1979 after its partial meltdown. Its twin, the governing Unit 2, was in operation until 2019
“He interrogated me, literally interrogated me for over an hour, maybe an hour and a half,” Dominguez said.
Once he gained the governor’s support, Dominguez began looking for a corporate client.
Noelle Walsh, corporate vice president of cloud innovation and operations at Microsoft, told WSJ that the deal made sense because it would bring a lot of reliable, carbon-free energy to market faster and cheaper than other options.
“If we had abandoned the deal, I’m sure someone else would have stepped in,” Walsh said.
The companies have not released financial details of the deal, but Jefferies analysts estimate Microsoft will pay between $110 and $115 per megawatt hour of electricity.
The plant is expected to begin delivering power in 2028 under the agreement, and Constellation said they will seek to renew the license that will extend the plant’s operations until at least 2054.