--- title: "Reclaiming Three Mile Island: Big Tech's Long-Term PPAs and Legacy Nuclear Restarts" description: Big tech’s long-term nuclear deals, including Microsoft’s Three Mile Island restart, show how AI-driven power demand is reshaping energy costs and grid stability for Americans image: https://americanimpact.org/hubfs/image-3.jpg --- [![American Impact - Trimmed Logo one PNG](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/American%20Impact%20-%20Trimmed%20Logo%20one%20PNG.png?width=1249&height=574&name=American%20Impact%20-%20Trimmed%20Logo%20one%20PNG.png "American Impact - Trimmed Logo one PNG")](https://americanimpact.org/) - [Home](https://americanimpact.org) - [About](https://americanimpact.org/about-american-impact) - [About the Foundation](https://americanimpact.org/about-the-american-impact-0) - [FAQs](https://americanimpact.org/frequently-asked-questions) - Issues - [Legislation](https://americanimpact.org/legislation) - [Monetary Policy](https://americanimpact.org/monetary-policy) - [Investing](https://americanimpact.org/investing) - [Entitlement Programs](https://americanimpact.org/entitlement-programs) - [Government Taxation, Spending, and Debt](https://americanimpact.org/government-taxation-spending-and-debt) - [Financial Literacy in the United States](https://americanimpact.org/financial-literacy) - [Articles](https://americanimpact.org/blog) - [Donate](https://americanimpact.org/donate) - [Charitable Solicitation Registration Statement](https://americanimpact.org/charitable-solicitation-registration-statement) [Contact Us](https://americanimpact.org/contact) # Reclaiming Three Mile Island: Big Tech's Long-Term PPAs and Legacy Nuclear Restarts [American Impact](https://americanimpact.org/blog/author/american-impact) Jun 4, 2026, 3:00:20 AM ###### [Investing](https://americanimpact.org/blog/tag/investing) *Microsoft's $16 billion bet on a shuttered Pennsylvania reactor signals how AI infrastructure is reshaping American energy markets.* ## **What to Know** - Microsoft signed a **20-year, $16 billion** PPA to restart Three Mile Island's **837-megawatt** Unit 1 - Big tech contracted more than **10 gigawatts** of new nuclear capacity in a single year - Amazon signed a **1,920-megawatt** nuclear PPA with Talen Energy running through **2042** - Global data center electricity demand will grow from **460 TWh** in 2024 to **1,300 TWh** by 2035 - Goldman Sachs estimates **85 to 90 gigawatts** of new nuclear capacity needed by 2030, but less than **10%** will be available American energy infrastructure is being reshaped by a single equation: artificial intelligence needs enormous amounts of reliable, carbon-free electricity, and the existing grid cannot provide it. Big tech companies have reached the same conclusion independently and arrived at the same answer: nuclear power is the only proven technology that delivers gigawatt-scale, round-the-clock, zero-emissions baseload generation. [Microsoft's 20-year agreement](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/three-mile-island-nuclear-power-plant-to-return-as-microsoft-signs-20-year-835mw-ai-data-center-ppa/) with Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island is the most visible example of this shift. Nearly 50 years after a partial meltdown made that Pennsylvania site synonymous with nuclear disaster, the plant is being reborn as the Crane Clean Energy Center, expected to come back online in 2028 and deliver every megawatt of its output directly to Microsoft's AI data centers. ## **Why Legacy Reactors Are Faster Than New Ones** Building a new nuclear plant takes decades and costs between **$6,417 and $12,681 per kilowatt**, compared to **$1,290 per kilowatt** for natural gas. Restarting an existing reactor that was shut down for economic rather than safety reasons bypasses most of that timeline and much of that cost. Constellation shut down Three Mile Island's Unit 1 in 2019 due to operating losses, not mechanical failure. Microsoft's revenue commitment through a 20-year PPA provided the financial certainty Constellation needed to justify the restart investment. That deal structure is deliberate and replicable. A long-term PPA eliminates the market risk that made legacy reactors financially unviable in the first place. It converts an asset that could not compete on spot electricity markets into a contracted revenue stream that justifies hundreds of millions in restart capital. For American households and workers in energy-dependent regions, that structure also means new jobs, tax revenue, and grid stability that renewable-only strategies struggle to guarantee. ## **Amazon, Meta and the Scale of Commitment** [Amazon's agreement with Talen Energy](https://www.esgdive.com/news/amazon-talen-energy-ink-nuclear-ppa-to-power-data-centers-pennsylvania/750950/) runs through 2042 and covers **1,920 megawatts** of nuclear power sourced from the Susquehanna plant in Pennsylvania. Talen estimates it will deliver the full contracted volume no later than 2032, with options to extend the agreement further. Amazon has since invested more than **$20 billion** converting the surrounding site into a nuclear-powered AI data center campus, one of the largest single infrastructure investments in Pennsylvania's history. ![](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/image%20(1)-jpg-Jun-04-2026-10-40-39-0148-AM.jpeg?width=588&height=328&name=image%20(1)-jpg-Jun-04-2026-10-40-39-0148-AM.jpeg)   Big tech nuclear power purchase agreements by company size. Created via Gemini. ![](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/image%20(2)-jpg-Jun-04-2026-10-40-48-1510-AM.jpeg?width=200&height=200&name=image%20(2)-jpg-Jun-04-2026-10-40-48-1510-AM.jpeg)   [**Mac McFarland,**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mac-mcfarland-72146832) **President and CEO,**[**Talen Energy**](https://www.talenenergy.com/) McFarland, speaking on the Amazon agreement, stated: *"Talen is well-positioned to support Amazon's energy needs as it invests further in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."* Meta signed a **20-year** nuclear PPA with Constellation giving it **1,121 megawatts** beginning in June 2027, keeping an Illinois facility online in the process. Google contracted **500 megawatts** of small modular reactors from Kairos Power, with the first unit targeting **2030**. Meta also issued a request for proposals targeting **1 to 4 gigawatts** of additional new nuclear generation. Across all these commitments, big tech contracted more than **10 gigawatts** of nuclear capacity in a single year. ## **What the Supply Gap Means for Ordinary Americans** Goldman Sachs estimates **85 to 90 gigawatts** of new nuclear capacity would be needed to meet projected data center power demand growth by 2030. Less than **10%** of that will be available globally by that date. Natural gas currently supplies over **40%** of U.S. data center electricity, with renewables at **24%** and nuclear at **15 to 20%**. That gap ensures continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels through the decade regardless of how many PPAs get signed. For American households, the implications are direct. Data centers competing with residential and commercial users for grid capacity push electricity prices higher. Nuclear plants operating under long-term contracts stabilize regional grid supply, which moderates the price spikes that pass through to household utility bills. Communities hosting restarted reactors gain reliable tax bases and employment that renewable projects, which require far less ongoing labor, typically cannot match. ## **Wrap Up** Microsoft's Three Mile Island deal is not nostalgia or symbolism. It is a financially engineered solution to a hard infrastructure problem, structured so that a shuttered reactor becomes the most reliable power source available for the world's most demanding computing workloads. Every other hyperscaler has looked at the same math and reached the same conclusion. Ordinary Americans will feel the consequences of these decisions whether they follow them or not. Energy prices, grid reliability, job creation in industrial communities, and the long-term carbon trajectory of the electricity sector all run through the choices being made right now in corporate boardrooms and nuclear licensing offices. Understanding who is building what, and why, is not just an energy story. It is a household budget story that will play out across utility bills for the next two decades. [American Impact](https://americanimpact.org/blog/author/american-impact) Share this article on [mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20Reclaiming%20Three%20Mile%20Island:%20Big%20Tech's%20Long-Term%20PPAs%20and%20Legacy%20Nuclear%20Restarts%20&body=Check%20out%20https://americanimpact.org/blog/reclaiming-three-mile-island-big-techs-long-term-ppas-and-legacy-nuclear-restarts](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20Reclaiming%20Three%20Mile%20Island:%20Big%20Tech's%20Long-Term%20PPAs%20and%20Legacy%20Nuclear%20Restarts%20&body=Check%20out%20https://americanimpact.org/blog/reclaiming-three-mile-island-big-techs-long-term-ppas-and-legacy-nuclear-restarts) ##### Read more - [The Price on the Sign: Why Gasoline Remains an Immediate Affordability Test](https://americanimpact.org/blog/the-price-on-the-sign-why-gasoline-remains-an-immediate-affordability-test) - [No Roadblocks, No Special Favors: A State Framework for Data-Center Growth](https://americanimpact.org/blog/no-roadblocks-no-special-favors-a-state-framework-for-data-center-growth) - [The AI Utility Surcharge and Why Households May Pay for Grid Expansion](https://americanimpact.org/blog/the-ai-utility-surcharge-and-why-households-may-pay-for-grid-expansion) ![American Impact - Trimmed Logo white](https://americanimpact.org/hubfs/American%20Impact%20-%20Trimmed%20Logo%20white.png "American Impact - Trimmed Logo white") **Our Contact Info:** American Impact, Inc. 3232 McKinney Ave Ste 500 Dallas, TX 75204 **Phone:** (214) 429-3710 **General Email:** **[info@americanimpact.org](mailto:info@americanimpact.org)** *American Impact and American Impact Foundation are affiliate nonprofit organizations with missions to provide civic and voter engagement and provide financial literacy and fiscal public policy education at the federal, state and local level.* *Contributions to American Impact, an IRS designated 501(c)(4) nonprofit, are not tax deductible.  American Impact Foundation is a section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization under the IRS and contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.* --- © 2024 American Impact Foundation | [Privacy](https://20089053.hs-sites.com/privacy) and [Donation Refund Policy ](https://20089053.hs-sites.com/refundpolicy) [Legal](https://americanimpact.org/charitable-solicitation-registration-statement) [Privacy Policy](https://americanimpact.org/privacy)