Sustainability Corner: Defunct nuclear facility set to rekindle for corporate gain

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The recently shut down Three Mile Island, Pennsylvanian, nuclear power plant resurged into the media spotlight as the corporation Microsoft gained the rights to the facility.

On Sept. 20, 2024, the recently shut down Three Mile Island, Pennsylvanian, nuclear power plant resurged into the media spotlight as the corporation Microsoft gained the rights to the facility, stating plans for “powering the tech giant's cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) programs.” 

This decision sparked a wave of controversy as this nuclear power plant was the site of the United States’ (US) most grave nuclear disaster in 1979; this was a partial meltdown that allowed the plant to continue operating at one-third the capacity it once did until 2019, when it closed because of financial restraints and being outcompeted by other energy sources. Even so, this was the biggest US-based nuclear scare, and it is one that defined modern nuclear safety. Now, it is being used to fuel AI. On the other hand, it has made many hopefuls as this facility was sustained following the accident, and now, it can redistribute jobs to a community once upheld off this facility, now with an embedded source of income. 

Due to the latter, Londonderry Township—where Three Mile Island Resides is located, east of Pennsylvania’s capital—signed a contract with Microsoft, allowing them to begin harnessing the energy produced by nuclear fusion in 2028. Microsoft cites this agreement as a means of finding a more sustainable way to handle its technological needs. 

As Junchen Jiang, a networked systems researcher at the University of Chicago, stated, “The carbon footprint and the energy consumption [of these corporations] will be linear to the amount of computation you do, because basically these data centers are being powered proportional to the amount of computation they do.” 

This means that the current needs of software like Microsoft’s CoPilot AI and cloud computing vastly outpace the accessible amount of energy through sustainable, readily replenishable means, relying heavily on fossil fuels; but not solely. As the Washington Post stated, “The tech giants say they buy enough wind, solar or geothermal power every time a big data center comes online to cancel out its emissions. But critics see a shell game with these contracts: The companies are operating off the same power grid as everyone else, while claiming for themselves much of the finite amount of green energy.” 

In 2023, Microsoft reported that it and its subsidiaries consumed “86,428,325 GJ (gigajoule), and total non-renewable fuel consumed equals 1,490,239 GJ.” A gigajoule is reported to be “27 litres of fuel oil, 39 litres of propane, 26 litres of gasoline or 277 kilowatt hours of electricity.” Though this specific corporation’s consumption may sound unfathomable, it is not the only one experiencing needs like this. Almost every technological advancement adjacently drastically increases the required energy to facilitate any process. 

Many are left perplexed by this decision. A resource funnel like this can optimize the lives of millions, making green, clean energy a readily accessible future, yet because of the immediate access to funds, a possibility like this was ruled out immediately. Not only that, but NPR reports anger brewing among nearby town residents. As Eric Epstein, a local resident, stated, “What would be a better investment for our money? That’s the question we should be asking. We were told: let the marketplace decide. The market decided, and they decided it’s not nuclear.”

As the Washington Post remarked, “Microsoft saw that value and grabbed it to ensure they have the power needed to drive their business,” said Robert Coward, a former president of the American Nuclear Society. “I would expect additional similar agreements…in the coming months and years.’”

 It may be vital to stay informed on this issue as there has been an expansion of AI, and privatized corporations have more purchasing power, regardless of the potential risks said purchase poses to the surrounding public.