Inside Three-Mile Island’s Quest to Clear Restart Hurdles

Restarting a Nuclear Reactor:
Three-Mile Island’s Workforce and Legal Challenges

Guest Blog Post by: Elliot Marsh, NeutronRise This is a summary of the full report.
Full text of the report

The big picture: Constellation Energy is executing a fast-track effort to bring Three-Mile Island Unit 1—renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center—back online by late 2027. Backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft and a $1 billion federal loan closed in November 2025, the project represents the leading edge of a new discipline: returning a retired cold, defueled, reactor to commercial status.

Why it matters: While physical plant work is underway, the human and regulatory hurdles outside the vessel represent the primary schedule throttles for returning the 835 MW PWR to the grid.

The State of Play
Crane’s Regulatory Timeline is Meeting Key 2026–2027 Milestones
The Utility Must Overcome Hurdles in Two Key Areas

~ Hurdle 1: Rebuilding the Human System ~

• Non-portable licenses: Under 10 CFR 55.53 and 55.55, NRC operator licenses are plant-specific and lapse once active watch-standing ceases. When Unit 1 shuttered for economic reasons in 2019, its qualified operating crew scattered to the four winds.
• Re-licensing pipeline: Constellation must rebuild the site’s operating organization from scratch, with a target of hiring over 600 full-time employees and roughly 3,400 direct/indirect jobs.
• The throttle: Approximately 90 operator candidates are moving through accredited classroom, simulator, and NRC exam pipelines ahead of planned fuel delivery by late 2026. Tacit operational memory is being recovered by rehiring former plant veterans.

~ Hurdle 2: Unlocking the 10 CFR 50.82 “One-Way Door” ~

• Regulatory lock: Docketing permanent shutdown and fuel removal certifications under 10 CFR 50.82(a)(2) strips a facility’s operating authority, converting the license to decommissioning-only status.
• The exemption pathway: Constellation requested a one-time NRC exemption to rescind the certifications and restore the operating license through its original expiration in April 2034, accompanied by multiple License Amendment Requests (LARs) to rebuild the operating licensing basis.
• The precedent: Holtec’s Palisades plant cleared this regulatory threshold first, securing its 10 CFR 50.82(a)(2) exemption in July 2025 and reactivating its power license in August 2025. The NRC has formalized a “potential restart” track and dedicated CCEC Restart Panel.

Key Milestones fore Restart

• June 2026: FERC approved a waiver transferring 760 MW capacity interconnection rights. Concurrently, the NRC issued a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), avoiding a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process.
• September 2026: Final environmental decision expected following public comment review.
• May 2027: Targeted NRC decision on issuing the reactivated operating license.
• Late 2027: Targeted fuel load and return to commercial operation.

Between the lines: The accelerated revival faces legal and operational friction. Critics argue that plants should not benefit from decommissioning regulatory relief while retaining restart options. While a federal lawsuit against Palisades exemption was dismissed in mid-2026 on jurisdictional grounds, the underlying legal merits remain untested in appellate courts. Operationally, long-term viability beyond 2034 will depend on managing reactor pressure vessel (RPV) neutron embrittlement margins accumulated during prior operating cycles.

The bottom line: Un-retiring a shuttered reactor is a complex institutional and engineering endeavor, but not an insurmountable technical wall. With Palisades establishing the regulatory roadmap, Crane’s schedule now depends on execution across operator licensing and final NRC approvals.