Three Mile Island pictured on June 3, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
Three Mile Island nuclear plant lays out emergency plans
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Rachel McDevitt/StateImpact Pennsylvania
Three Mile Island pictured on June 3, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
The owner of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant says it is updating software and evacuation plans to respond to any potential emergencies.
Constellation Energy representatives met with federal regulators Wednesday to discuss restoring its emergency plans. The plan is required to restart power operations at TMI Unit 1, which has been shuttered since 2019.
Last year, Constellation made a deal with Microsoft to supply all the power for the tech company’s data centers in the region. The company hopes to repower in 2028.
Shania East, Constellation’s senior manager of emergency preparedness, told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the company will be able to rely on emergency plans shared among its fleet of nuclear plants. In the region, Constellation also operates Peach Bottom in Delta, Limerick in Pottstown, and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland.
Those three plants share an offsite emergency office in Coatesville. East said TMI Unit 1 will rely on that office as well.
Constellation said it plans to request approval for a 90-minute activation time for emergency offices and staff. NRC staff said the company will have to detail its justification for the 90-minute window in its application, since it is longer than the 60-minute window approved for the fleet.
TMI will also use existing on-site emergency offices. Those will be upgraded with better phone lines and video conferencing abilities.
East said they have hired a contractor to analyze the area’s geography and population to develop an emergency evacuation plan. That information will be sent to surrounding counties so they can develop their evacuation plans.
East said they plan to update software that will assess radiation doses on site as well as detect core damage.
Constellation will also upgrade its primary alert system from sirens to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, which expands the reach of the alert to cell phones, radio and TV.
East said they plan to submit updated emergency plans by the end of this year.
Constellation expects to conduct a full scale emergency drill no later than first quarter of 2027.
Before the meeting, Constellation said it is ahead of schedule in restarting the plant, which it plans to rename the Crane Clean Energy Center.
Constellation said it has hired more than 200 full-time employees. It plans to hire 600 people before restarting the plant. The next wave of positions will be posted in March.
The company is also working to train and license reactor operators.
Constellation said the site’s main office building has been fully restored and upgrades to the training center and control room simulator are nearly complete.
Constellation said it is ahead of schedule on many equipment inspections, including for the plant’s steam generator, main generator, rotor, turbines, feedwater heaters and condensers.
It has contracted for the construction of three new main power transformers.
Constellation filed an interconnection request with the regional electric grid operator PJM to add its 835 megawatts of power to the grid.
Constellation submitted its initial restart plan to the NRC on Nov. 4.
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