The old plant that won’t stay retired
Three Mile Island is back in the conversation, and not because anyone wants a rerun of the 1979 drama. U.S. energy regulators granted a waiver that should speed up the plant’s connection process, which is a practical step toward restarting the facility in Pennsylvania.
Why this matters
This isn’t just a nerdy utility footnote. The plant is being revived to help power Microsoft data centers in the region — which is basically the AI boom’s electricity bill showing up in hard hats.
For investors, the signal is pretty clear:
- AI demand is pushing big tech deeper into the energy business
- Nuclear is looking less like yesterday’s technology and more like a shortage-fix
- Projects that used to feel glacial are suddenly moving because power is now the bottleneck, not ambition
Big picture
When regulators start clearing the runway for a nuclear restart tied to hyperscale computing, you know the AI arms race has gone from chips and software to transformers, turbines, and whatever else keeps the lights on. Big picture: the winners may not just be the AI names — it could also be the companies that can actually deliver the electrons.