> Nobody is building nuclear power plants for data centres. A few people have signed some paperwork saying that they would buy electricity from new nuclear plants if they could deliver it at a certain price, a price mind you that has not been done before.
Not building new, but I think Microsoft paying to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island for their datacenter is much more significant than you make the deals sound:
Microsoft isn’t paying to restart. A PPA is a contract saying they will purchase electricity for a specified price for a fixed term. Three Mile Island needs to be able to produce the electricity for the specified price for Microsoft to pay buy it. If it’s above that price Microsoft is off the hook.
> Constellation closed the adjacent but unconnected Unit 1 reactor in 2019 for economic reasons, but will bring it back to life after signing a 20-year power purchase agreement to supply Microsoft’s energy-hungry data centers, the company announced on Friday.
The reactor they’re restarting was operational just five years ago. It’s not a fully decommissioned or melted down reactor and it’s likely all their licensing is still valid so the red tape, especially environmental studies, is mostly irrelevant. Getting that reactor back up and running will be a lot simpler than building a new one.
The largest problem will be finding qualified and vetted personnel. All the people who worked at the plant when it closed five years ago had to find jobs elsewhere. Even though the plant was an important employer in Middletown, I don't know if those former employees will be willing the quit there current jobs to go back, especially if there is a risk the plant will just be shut down again when it once again becomes too expensive to operate.
Not building new, but I think Microsoft paying to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island for their datacenter is much more significant than you make the deals sound:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/20/three-mi...