Two American energy companies are preparing to each put a nuclear power plant back into service, an unprecedented operation, with apparently limited costs and risks, which should help meet the growing electricity needs in the United States.
Constellation Energy unveiled on Friday its plan to restart, in 2028, a reactor at the Three Mile Island site (Pennsylvania), which has been shut down since 2019 “for economic reasons.”
The site is known for having been the scene, in 1979, of the most serious incident in the history of American nuclear power on another reactor, which caused its definitive shutdown at the time.
The initiative is part of a 20-year electricity supply contract with Microsoft.
In October 2023, Holtec initiated the movement by filing an application with the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to resume operation of the Palisades site in Michigan, interrupted in 2022.
According to several specialists, the recommissioning of this plant would be a world first.
“Everybody is watching what we do with this project to see if it’s viable,” says Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien. “It’s important to the United States, and if we show it’s feasible, the international community might consider getting involved.”
Contacted by AFP, the NRC indicated that only one restart request had been submitted to it to date, that of Holtec, which aims for the end of 2025.
The decommissioning of a power plant takes decades, and in the case of Palisades, it was only in its infancy.
At Three Mile Island, fuel has been removed from the reactor, but “disassembly or demolition of major equipment has not started,” a Constellation spokeswoman said.
“There are a lot of things that can be reused on a site, even if you had to rebuild the plant,” says Jacopo Buongiorno, professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Holtec estimates the cost of the operation at about $2 billion, according to its spokesman, while Constellation estimates the bill for Three Mile Island at $1.6 billion.
By comparison, the construction of the two newest reactors in the United States, connected to the grid in 2023 and 2024 at the Vogtle site in Georgia, cost more than 30 billion.
More reboots to follow?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has upset the global energy balance and given a boost to nuclear power, which had been losing momentum.
And energy transition policies are now integrating fission more frequently and more widely, particularly to cope with the projected 15% increase in consumption between 2022 and 2050, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Some 56% of Americans support the development of nuclear energy in the United States, up from 43% four years ago, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in August.
The future seemed reserved for new-generation small reactors, SMRs (small modular reactors), with tight construction deadlines and the possibility of mass production.
But the initial design and construction of these pocket plants is expensive because they are prototypes. Startup TerraPower’s first Natrium, currently positioned to be the first operational SMR in the United States by 2030, is expected to cost about $4 billion.
Restarting an existing power station therefore appears to be the quickest and least expensive option.
“I don’t think there are many plants that are shut down that can be restarted,” warns Jacopo Buongiorno.
Asked by AFP, the NextEra Energy Resources group indicated that it was “studying the opportunity” of restarting the Duane Arnold plant in Iowa, which closed in 2020, but that it had not formalized “any plans at this stage”.
As for the Indian Point site, north of New York, which was stopped in 2021, “nothing is impossible with time and resources, but it would be much more complicated than Palisades or Three Mile Island,” according to Patrick O’Brien.
Reactivating an existing installation raises the question of safety, for power plants which initially had a lifespan of 40 years.
“Most of them have already had their operating permits extended by 20 years, so this is nothing new,” recalls Jacopo Buongiorno.
“People think, ‘This must be unsafe, it must be falling apart.’ That’s not true,” he says, “because other than the concrete containment and the vessel, everything has already been replaced. Nuclear power plants are among the best-maintained industrial sites in the United States.”
The Palisades reactor was commissioned in 1971 and the Three Mile Island reactor in 1974.
Behind the private operators, the public authorities are at work, as demonstrated by the $1.5 billion loan granted to Holtec for Palisades.
“The Biden/Harris administration is committed,” a Department of Energy spokesperson said, “to ensuring that nuclear energy plays a growing role in our Nation’s historic transition to a clean, safe energy future.”