President Trump supports restarting Three Mile Island with $1 billion loan to Constellation

The Trump administration provides constellation energy Department of Energy officials on Tuesday announced a $1 billion loan to restart Pennsylvania’s Crane Clean Energy Center nuclear power plant.

The plant, formerly known as Three Mile Island Unit 1, is scheduled to resume generating electricity in 2027. Constellation announced plans to rename and restart the reactor in September 2024 through a power purchase agreement. microsoft This is to support the data center needs of high-tech companies in the region.

Three Mile Island Unit 1, which shut down in 2019, is one of more than a dozen reactors that have been shut down in recent years as nuclear power struggles to compete with cheaper natural gas. The facility is on the same site as Three Mile Island Unit 2, which suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 in the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history.

The loan will cover most of the project’s estimated cost of $1.6 billion. The first expansion into Constellation is expected in the first quarter of 2026, Greg Beard, a senior adviser in the Department of Energy’s Office of Loan Programs, said in a call with reporters. The loan comes with a guarantee from Constellation to protect taxpayer funds, Beard said.

Constellation stock rose more than 2% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

CEO Joe Dominguez has previously hinted at federal financial support, telling investors in September 2024 that Constellation would “consider loan guarantees and other available options in funding the project.” Constellation is the largest nuclear power plant operator in the United States

Asked why Constellation was taking out the loan now, Beard said Tuesday that Constellation was able to complete the project without the Department of Energy’s assistance. But Beard said the loan will help make electricity cheaper for consumers on the grid operated by PJM Interconnection, which serves more than 65 million people in 13 states.

“It’s important for the administration to demonstrate support for affordable, reliable and safe energy in America,” Beard told reporters. “This financing to Constellation will lower the cost of capital and make power cheaper for PJM ratepayers.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week that most of the funding from his department’s lending office would go toward supporting the nuclear industry. In May, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders aimed at significantly expanding new nuclear capacity.

Consumers in many states in the PJM region are facing significant increases in electricity rates as rapidly increasing demand from artificial intelligence data centers outstrips available supply.

“We want to add as much reliable, distributable power to the grid as possible to stop power prices from skyrocketing,” Wright told reporters on Tuesday.

The Crane Clean Energy Center is one of three shuttered nuclear power plants in the United States, with the goal of restarting power generation within 10 years, subject to approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Constellation said the crane had the capacity to power more than 800,000 homes when it was shut down in 2019.

The Department of Energy is supporting the restart of Michigan’s Palisades nuclear power plant with a $1.5 billion loan to Holtec International. NextEra Energy Announces plans to restart Iowa’s Duane Arnold nuclear power plant under agreement in October alphabetGoogle Unit.

Asked whether NextEra would finance Duane Arnold, Beard told CNBC that President Trump’s executive order directs the Department of Energy to “prioritize restarting nuclear reactors.”