Constellation Energy, the largest operator of nuclear power plants in the U.S., announced yesterday that its Three Mile Island / Crane nuclear facility in Pennsylvania—shut down in 2019 for economic reasons—will restart operations in 2027, nearly a year ahead of schedule.
As a reminder, Constellation disclosed in September last year that it would bring the plant back online in 2028, supported by a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft to supply electricity to its data centers in the PJM Interconnection—a regional grid operator covering 13 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The Crane plant has been placed on an interconnection fast-track by PJM, a move that appears closely tied to recent federal policies. Indeed, President Trump issued a national energy emergency declaration and signed just weeks ago executive orders aimed at revitalizing the U.S. nuclear sector—signals that are already being translated into tangible actions by his administration.
Interestingly, PJM has received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval to fast-track the review process for up to 50 new power plant projects. Other grid operators, including Great Plains and MISO, have also applied for expedited connection reviews, pointing to a broad, policy-driven acceleration of power infrastructure upgrades across the country.
While the Crane facility’s restart does not constitute new construction, the early reactivation gives confidence in the U.S. goal of adding 5 GW of capacity through upgrades to existing reactors and completing 10 new nuclear reactors by 2030.
Obviously, this newflow is supportive of the whole nuclear and uranium ecosystem. Faster timelines for new plant construction and restarts should translate into growing order books and increased pricing power for engineering and equipment suppliers, particularly as key components in the electric supply chain like turbines and transformers are already in short supply.
At the same time, uranium demand, that we didn’t expect to materially surprise on the upside in the short term, could see upward pressure as earlier-than-expected demand from reactivated and new facilities starts to materialize.
