What would you think if someone talks about resurrecting a power source? Chances are that you would wonder more about the reasons for its death than about the causes that motivate you to revive it. Let’s reflect on both and why it may be a catastrophe for Microsoft to bring it back to life.
To resurrect a power source, let’s first ask ourselves why it died
The dead one that Microsoft wants to bring back to life is a nuclear power plant located in Pennsylvania called Three Mile Island, equipped with two units and owned by Constellation Energy, one of the world’s largest reactor operators.
This nuclear power plant partially closed in 1979 after a nuclear accident occurred there, specifically in the second unit, remaining half operational with the first unit until 2019, when it closed completely as it was no longer economically competitive.
Now almost five years later, with an investment of more than USD1600 million, it is expected to be modernized and reopened within three years to produce energy for a single customer: Microsoft.
Why does Microsoft need to revive a dead nuclear power plant?
For Constellation Energy it has been excellent news because after the announcement its shares soared by 16%, money that will not go down badly because renaming the moribund nuclear plant with the name Crane Clean Energy Center in honor of Chris Crane, its late CEO, will require in Unit 1 improvements in:
- Central transformer.
- Turbines.
- Cooling systems.
This will naturally entail a huge investment in staffing and all the necessary steps to allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve the reactivation of the plant.
All this effort to make the defunct nuclear plant operational so that only Microsoft can take advantage of the energy generated leads many to wonder what the computer giant will do with so much atomic energy.
Microsoft’s motives for breathing new life into a dying plant
According to the announcements made, Microsoft in its agreement with Constellation Energy has committed to purchase the power (approximately 835 MW of electricity) produced at the reopened plant for the next 20 years.
According to Microsoft’s vice president of energy, Bobby Hollis, the destination of this carbon-free energy will be to power the artificial intelligence data centers of the global network held by Microsoft and operated from headquarters in Chicago, Virginia, among others.
That is, Microsoft, concerned that its data centers require a lot of energy and does not want to be subject to negative carbon, is willing to buy all the nuclear energy that will deliver the resuscitated Three Mile Island.
Microsoft would be initiating a catastrophe of epic proportions.
Microsoft’s plans to go carbon-negative by 2030 are still on track, hence the agreement signed with U.S. reactor operator Constellation Energy, considering that nuclear power is more consistent, unlike solar and wind energy sources, which naturally require continuity in powering data centers.
However, the nuclear accident that made the nuclear power plant famous is still fresh in the memory, raising worrying questions about the measures and investments to be made to avoid a recurrence of such disastrous events. In fact, it is estimated that the biggest challenge will be the connection of the plant’s production to the electricity system.
In conclusion, resurrecting an energy source that has been dead for years has its risks, so both the party that will make controlled use of the energy produced (Microsoft) and the party that controls the production (Constellation Energy) must prevent the resurrected dead from getting out of control and causing a catastrophe.