The Department of Energy said this week it has approved a $1-billion loan to help Constellation Energy restart the former Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear facility, recently renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center.
In a Tuesday press release, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the DOE Loan Programs Office closed on a loan “to lower energy costs and restart a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant.”
The $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy Generation will help finance the Crane Clean Energy Center, an 835 MW plant on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, DOE said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has held public meetings on the proposed restart of the former Three Mile Island unit 1. The facility is being rebranded as the Crane Clean Energy Center, likely to distinguish it from Three Mile Island Unit 2, which partially melted down in March 1979.
Joe Dominguez, Constellation president and CEO, said in a Tuesday press release that DOE’s loan decision was a “huge step” towards bringing more power onto the grid “at a critical moment”.
“Utilities and grid operators are moving too slowly and need to make regulatory changes that will allow our nation to unlock its abundant energy potential,” Dominguez said. “Constellation and nuclear energy are helping to lead the way and we are thankful to President Trump and Secretary Wright for putting the ‘energy’ back into DOE.”
The former Three Mile Island unit 1 closed permanently in September 2019. Despite the closure, Constellation said the nuclear power plant is more than 80% staffed, with over 500 employees, which includes “engineers, mechanics, technicians and licensed operator trainees,” it said.