Three Mile Island and Crane Clean Energy Center History
Constellation purchased TMI Unit 1, in 1999. Before it was retired prematurely for economic reasons in 2019, the plant had a generating capacity of 837 megawatts, which is enough to power more than 800,000 average homes. In its last year of operation, the plant was producing electricity at maximum capacity 96.3 percent of the time – well above the industry average. The plant had an annual payroll of about $60 million and employed more than 600 full-time workers, in addition to the 1,000 highly skilled, mostly union craftspeople that supported the plant’s biennial refueling outages.
This new center, expected to go online in 2028, will:
Restore 835 megawatts of reliable, clean, carbon-free energy to the grid
Create 3,400 direct and indirect jobs
Deliver $3.6 billion in state and federal tax revenue and add $16 billion to the state’s GDP
Reduce 61 million tons of CO2 emissions over 20 years
The Unit 1 reactor is located adjacent to TMI Unit 2, which shut down in 1979 and is in the process of being decommissioned by its owner, Energy Solutions. TMI Unit 1 is a fully independent facility, and its long-term operation was not impacted by the Unit 2 accident. To prepare for the restart, significant investments will be made to restore the plant, including the turbine, generator, main power transformer and cooling and control systems. Restarting a nuclear reactor requires U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval following a comprehensive safety and environmental review, as well as permits from relevant state and local agencies. The CCEC is expected to be online in 2028.
The plant will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center in honor of Chris Crane, who was CEO of Constellation’s former parent company and a true titan of the nuclear industry. Crane, who passed away in April 2024, was a staunch advocate for America’s commercial nuclear power industry and the environmental and economic benefits it delivered for our nation. He was instrumental in both shaping the industry and rebuilding public support for nuclear technology.
