Waking Up Three Mile Island to Give Nuclear Power a New Twist
In what can only be called a phoenix-like moment, a decision has been made to wake up the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island.
A funny thing happened on humanity’s way to abandoning electricity made from nuclear power. Overnight, it seems, the technology looks like a promising option again.
While the current interest may not compare to the zeal of the early days of nuclear power in the 1950s, it is a clear rejuvenation. And nowhere is this more pronounced than in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where Three Mile Island (TMI) has gone from pariah to darling overnight. Exactly what has changed?
Dreaming of a Nuclear Future
The uniquely supportive, unquestioning culture of the Cold War is clearly a thing of the past. Examples of this rather blindly confident coordination between military and industrial interests are scattered across the American landscape. Some examples, such as the vast open spans of New Mexico or Idaho, might be expected; others, nestled in more populated areas, surprise contemporary Americans. Each of them, though, and the vast span of all of them together, reveal an era when our nation quietly took on a dramatic technological project and succeeded.
Nuclear power’s technical core is fairly straightforward, even from the earliest days. Similar to power generators fueled by fossil fuels, nuclear plants use the heat of thermal energy to turn turbines that generate the electric power that can be used in toasters, televisions, or any other aspects of our modern lifestyle. The thermal energy comes from nuclear fission, which occurs when a neutron emitted by a uranium nucleus strikes another uranium nucleus, which emits more neutrons and heat as it breaks apart.
In my home state of Pennsylvania, this remarkable inertia initially took shape in Shippingport under the direction of Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover and the Duquesne Light Company, a subsidiary of Westinghouse. In 1957, the first breeder reactor opened to create electricity. Recovering from a heart attack, President Dwight Eisenhower, from his hospital bed, directed a robot bulldozer to begin its construction while also demonstrating the nation’s confidence and support of nuclear power.
Generating electricity for many decades, Shippingport also served as the demonstration reactor for those that the Navy would use in nuclear-powered vessels, which travel throughout the world on unlimited power. Through the 1960s, nuclear dreams inspired a variety of applications in human life. Also, in Pennsylvania, Project Ketch was part of just such an initiative (the larger federal effort to domesticate the atom was referred to as Project Plowshares). In this plan, government scientists specifically explored how atomic detonations could be used to excavate underground caverns to be used for natural gas storage.
The Cold War fueled diverse needs for new energy, and nuclear energy was ready for its moment in the 1960s and 70s.
Reminders of an Uncertain Technology
As a symbol of positive vibes and energy centrality, reactors opened throughout the United States and in other nations, including in France, Russia, and Japan. In its best iteration, nuclear was viewed as a nearly limitless — “too cheap to meter” — source of electricity that was more sustainable than fossil fuels, though there was still no real strategy for managing the wastes produced by the reactions over the years. In a flurry of positivity, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, TMI was built along the Susquehanna River (for easy access to water for cooling) to supply electricity for the entire region.
The first quibble in nuclear energy’s positive traits came in 1979 when the Unit Two Reactor experienced a partial core meltdown. Although involving only a relatively minor release of radioactive gas, the accident demonstrated the public’s lack of knowledge. Panic ripped through the state, and Harrisburg was partially evacuated amid fears more connected with nuclear weapons than reactors. The atomic mojo then burst entirely with a complete core meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986, and by the time Fukushima arrived in 2011, most nations hosting nuclear reactors longed to find a way out from their reliance on the volatile technology. In the case of TMI, the plant ceased operation in 2019, while the waste was stored on-site, awaiting a method to be shipped to dump sites in the American West.
The moth-balled facility on TMI also seemed destined for the waste-heap of failed historical technologies.
Finding Value in the Nuclear Present
In a phoenix-like moment, at TMI, nuclear has risen again in 2025. The response to our rhetorical question over what changed, is, technically, very little. However, in its re-emergence, we find the remarkable distinction in our energy present. Constellation Energy, the owner of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, is working on reopening Reactor Unit One in 2028 with the support of the computing companies who are searching for cheap electricity to fill the growing demand of information technologies.
In a $1.6 billion initiative with Microsoft, Constellation’s cost-benefit analysis has demonstrated that the volatile energy market prices now makes TMI’s operational costs and risks manageable. In this new energy climate, the company’s deal with Microsoft will make it the dedicated customer for all of TMI’s power.
In 2025, emerging human energy centrality has changed the calculations with which Americans view power development, as well as the costs and benefits of the risks associated with any technology. Whereas industries coordinated with government scientists to develop the technology in the 1950s, today, corporate sponsors contract for their own private power supplies. Existing, unencumbered generators such as TMI—unused for whatever reason—are the likely bridge to corporations constructing their own sources of power in the future.
Brian C. Black is Distinguished Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Penn State Altoona and author, most recently, of Ike’s Road Trip: How Eisenhower’s 1919 Convoy Paved the Way for the Roads We Travel. (Godine, 2024). ENERGY TRANSITION 2025 is an ongoing series to place details of our current energy shift into historical context.
Image: Shutterstock/Aubrie K