Three Mile Island

In what may be the greatest corporate name change of all time, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor has been renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center.

TMI was the site of the nation’s worst nuclear disaster in March 1979 after a loss of water coolant led to its partial meltdown and a radiation leak.

The affected reactor, Unit 2, is still in a decommissioning stage.

Constellation Energy, TMI owner, closed Unit 1 in 2019 for economic reasons.

CCEC is expected to go online by 2028 after completion of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety and environmental review, and the acquisition of various state and local permits.

It will provide carbon-free power to Microsoft’s AI operations over the next 20 years and add 835 megawatts to the grid.

Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation, said Unit 1 was “among the safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid” at the time of its premature shutdown.

The reopened reactor will be named after Christopher Crane, the former CEO of Constellation’s parent company, Exelon.

He died in April after a short illness and complications from pneumonia.

Crane, who was a leading advocate for nuclear power, was 65.