On the side of the road, halfway between Falmouth and Middletown, Pennsylvania, a sign recalls the trauma that occurred forty-five years ago: “On March 28, 1979, and for several days, at the “As a result of technical malfunctions and human errors, Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant was the scene of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear accident,” it says in gold letters. Installed in 2009 by local authorities, the message awakens the ecological fiber of passing tourists. But, in the surrounding area, only a fraction of the population is still opposed to the energy of the atom. Most residents have turned the page. They are even in favor of restarting activities on site.
“You should know that at the end of the 1970s, the Three Mile Island power station had two reactors,” says Mark Nelson, founder and managing director of Radiant Energy, a consulting company promoting nuclear energy. That of the unit 2 permanently closed after the accident. Unit 1 continued to operate for almost forty years, after its safety level was strengthened. Its activity was interrupted in 2019 for economic reasons. But today, the question of a possible return to service is on everyone’s lips.
Restarting a reactor on a site whose history was forever marked by a release of radioactivity and the evacuation of thousands of people, the initiative would undoubtedly go down with difficulty in France, where the atom still has many adversaries. On the other hand, in a pragmatic America, ready to seize the slightest economic opportunities, the hypothesis hardly raises opposition. Three Mile Island is just one case among others.
Sharply increasing energy needs
In recent years, the United States has closed a dozen reactors for economic reasons. Their operation was becoming too expensive due to competition from renewable energies and the abundance of cheap natural gas. Now, the American media are wondering how many of them will return to service, given the enormous energy needs. Part of the installations seems definitively lost. Some, like Indian Point, north of New York, or San Onofre, south of Los Angeles, are already being dismantled. Elsewhere, owners have not carried out the necessary maintenance work to keep their facilities in reasonably good condition. However, according to various sources, at least five reactors could be reconnected in the short or medium term.
The pressure is strong. “The American nuclear power plants in operation are operating almost at full capacity. There is therefore little room for maneuver to increase production. At the same time, energy needs, linked in particular to computer computing power in artificial intelligence, are exploding. A major concern for companies, many of them are therefore entering into direct contracts with electricity producers or investing in their own energy installations,” says Mark Nelson. Thus, to power its enormous data center called Cumulus, in northeastern Pennsylvania, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has secured enormous quantities of electricity by contract. These will come directly from the nearby Susquehanna nuclear power plant.
These arrangements between the world of tech and that of energy will soon be legion, economists predict. Because the United States lacks reliable, carbon-free energy sources. In this context, restarting power plants that are still in good condition takes on its full meaning. It makes it possible to increase the quantity of energy available without having to pay the staggering cost of a new installation. The icing on the cake is that financial aid is pouring in, further reducing the cost of the operation.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) plans to provide up to $30 billion in tax credits to nuclear power producers over the next ten years. Another text, adopted in 2021, provides a fund of 6 billion dollars to bail out power plants in difficulty. The American Department of Energy does not hide its enthusiasm for the atom: according to it, the United States must triple its nuclear production by 2050 in order to achieve its climate objectives. And this, despite the progress made in wind and solar power!
Shut down in 2022, the Palisades power plant, located in Michigan, should be the first to benefit from these exceptional financial conditions. Its owner, Holtec, managed to negotiate a loan guarantee of $1.5 billion for the recommissioning of its installation, its modernization and its operation until 2051. Of course, the financing of the operation remains subject to obtaining regulatory authorizations. This is the first time that a nuclear installation has been reactivated in this way across the Atlantic. There are therefore no administrative instructions. However, the Holtec teams believe that the project is progressing quickly. They are counting on electricity production from the end of 2025. Local elected officials are already hoping to reap benefits: restarting the plant would inject $363 million into the local economy.
Guaranteed profitability
“Other players with a recently shut down nuclear power plant seem ready to try the adventure,” assures Jigar Shah, director of the loan programs office of the American Department of Energy, recently interviewed by the Bloomberg agency. This very popular financier refuses to mention the names of the places concerned. “But one of the best candidates is undoubtedly Three Mile Island,” assures Mark Nelson. Unlike Palisades, whose owner knows nothing about plant management – his initial goal was to organize its dismantling – unit 1 belongs to an actor whose reputation is well established, Constellation Energy, which manages the largest reactor fleet in the country. Its general director, Joe Dominguez, says he is in favor of some reopenings, without further details. Elected officials and the local population are now hoping for a quick decision, synonymous with several hundred jobs and tax revenue.
If it’s not the planned unit that restarts, perhaps it will be a new, smaller model. Existing nuclear power plants or those in the process of being closed constitute, in fact, interesting sites for small modular reactors, the development of which is booming across the Atlantic. However, thanks to state aid, the profitability of a large installation seems assured in the short and medium term. This was not the case five years ago. At the time, Three Mile Island was the only one of Pennsylvania’s five nuclear power plants losing money – $57 million in 2019.
Today, the credits for nuclear energy production included in the law guarantee a production cost close to $42 per megawatt hour until 2032. However, the most energy-intensive companies do not hesitate to pay double for secure their supplies. Will this convergence of interest between producers and large consumers of electricity inspire other reopenings elsewhere in the world? For the moment, examples of power plant rehabilitation remain rare outside the United States. In Japan, 12 out of 33 reactors have resumed normal operation since the Fukushima accident in 2011. Ten more are needed to reduce the energy bill of the country, which has become addicted to gas imports. Electricity giant Tepco is battling to obtain the green light necessary to restart several units at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa site. But this recovery divides the country.
“In France, restarting is practically impossible once the definitive shutdown of the nuclear power plant has been declared by the Safety Authority (ASN) and recorded in a decree,” explains Dominique Grenêche, physicist, member of the association. Defense of nuclear heritage and the climate (PNC-France). In addition, French regulations require the operator EDF to start dismantling operations as soon as possible. For the expert, the real problem lies elsewhere. “Those responsible for these closures sometimes manage to ensure that no return to the past is possible from a technical point of view by deliberately sabotaging the installation. This type of operation was carried out twice, for Superphénix and for Fessenheim.
Germany may have better luck. “This country has one of the most conservative policies in the world. Although shut down, some of its reactors are still in very good condition. They could therefore theoretically be restarted after the elections scheduled for 2025,” estimates Mark Nelson. The specialist has already done his calculations. Across the Rhine, ten reactors could be put back into service for the cost of one new unit. In some cases, the addition would be significant – several billion euros. But in others it would “suffice” a few hundred million and a period of less than or equal to two years to complete the necessary repairs and tests. “This would provide electricity to millions of German citizens,” assures Mark Nelson. You still have to want it on a political level. The site of the former Kalkar nuclear power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia was to accommodate a fast neutron breeder reactor. It has become an amusement park. Quite a symbol.
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