U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced a $1 billion loan for Constellation Energy’s project to bring back the Crane Clean Energy Center, which has a long-term contract with Microsoft. (See Constellation to Reopen, Rename Three Mile Island Unit 1.)
The renamed Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Londonderry Township, Pa., will require $1.6 billion to reopen. Microsoft has signed a 20-year contract to buy electricity from it to power its data centers. Unit 1 closed in 2019 due to adverse economic conditions. It’s adjacent to TMI Unit 2, which partially melted down in 1979.
The loan to restart Unit 1 was funded by the Energy Dominance Financing program passed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans now call the Working Families Tax Cut, earlier in 2025.
“Constellation’s restart of a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania will provide affordable, reliable, and secure energy to Americans across the Mid-Atlantic region,” Wright said in a statement. “It will also help ensure America has the energy it needs to grow its domestic manufacturing base and win the AI race.”
The loan announcement marks the first project to get a concurrent conditional commitment and financial closing under the Trump administration. DOE said it remains committed to maximizing the speed and scale of nuclear capacity.
“DOE’s quick action and leadership is another huge step towards bringing hundreds of megawatts of reliable nuclear power onto the grid at this critical moment,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said in a statement. “Under the Trump administration, the FERC and DOE have made it possible for us to vastly expedite this restart without compromising quality or safety.”
The loan will cut Constellation’s financing costs for the nuclear unit restart.
The Crane center is more than 80% staffed with more than 500 employees on site, Constellation said Nov. 18. Inspections of key plant components and regulatory reviews for the restart remain on schedule.
“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.”
