Crane restart boosted by $1B LPO loan

Project context: In September 2019, TMI-1 was shuttered by Exelon Generation due to economic difficulties. Its shutdown joined a wave of other single-unit reactors that closed their doors around the same time: Oyster Creek in 2018, Pilgrim in 2019, and Duane Arnold in 2020.

In September 2024, Constellation (which separated from Exelon in 2022) announced that it had entered into a power purchase agreement with Microsoft. Under that agreement, Microsoft would get carbon-free energy to power its Pennsylvania data centers while Constellation would restart TMI-1.

In the five years from shutdown to new plans, TMI-1 was never fully decommissioned, and now the Crane Clean Energy Center is still requiring extensive recommissioning work, Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval, and local and state permitting. This new LPO funding will be used to ease the financial burden on Constellation as it pursues that work, with the aim to get the unit back on line in 2028.

LPO support: During the reconciliation process this year and Department of Government Efficiency–related shakeups, the LPO’s future looked uncertain numerous times. In April, nearly 60 percent of the LPO’s staff was in danger of being cut due to DOGE downsizing. In May, a draft of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s reconciliation budget would have seen hundreds of billions of dollars authorized by the LPO rescinded.

Despite these uncertainties, the Trump administration is now leveraging the LPO to advance the goals laid out by the president’s May executive orders. The DOE’s November 18 press release highlighted that this announcement “marks the first project to receive a concurrent conditional commitment and financial close under the Trump administration.”

Other restarts: Just as it was part of a wave of closures, Crane is now part of a wave of potential reopenings. Holtec is rapidly progressing on the restart of Palisades nuclear power plant, which is slated to happen before the year is out. In October, the company announced that it had received first fuel shipment.

Also in October, NextEra Energy announced that it is working toward a 2029 restart of the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant.