Do you need more proof to connect the dots between electricity hungry digital installations and resurrecting defunct nuclear power plants? Offered here for your consideration is this story: Microsoft made a deal with Constellation Energy to put Unit 3 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant back on line to produce electricity for its new data center. Yes, that's right the same plant that partially melted down in the 1979. The restart is planned for Unit 1, not Unit 2 that melted. Unit 1 was retired in 2019 due to economic reasons. Constellation plans to spend about $1.5 billion to refurbish the facility, with a planned start date of 2028. Constellation said it hoped to received the same federal support provided to the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station that got $1.5 billion from the Biden Administration.
{1.9.2024} Power supply deals for AI data centers are coming under increasing scrutiny. A deal signed earlier this year between Amazon and Talen Energy was attacked by electric utility companies that say the deal could cause a spike in consumer costs or hamper grid reliability. Nuclear is considered by Bill Gates and other plutocrats an answer to the additional power load caused by huge data centers because it is not interruptible.
