By Kris Maher and Jeanne Whalen | Photography by Michelle Gustafson for WSJ
MIDDLETOWN, Pa. -- Forty-six years have passed since America's worst nuclear accident, at Three Mile Island, jolted the country and created skepticism of nuclear energy.
Now, a plan to reboot the plant to help power Microsoft data centers has reignited resistance among some residents, who believe they already know the answer to the question: What could go wrong?
"For them to reopen it is devastating," said Beth Drazba, 77, who vividly recalls fleeing her home with her children during the 1979 crisis. A second reactor at the plant that was undamaged in the accident did run again, but proved too costly and closed in 2019. That is the reactor being revived, worrying opponents like Drazba who thought an era was over.
Yet, a palpable, optimistic counternarrative runs through this blue-collar town. Another contingent anticipates jobs -- some 500 have already returned on-site -- a revitalized downtown and a new period of opportunity. They view the accident's lingering impact as minimal, if they consider it at all.
The divide is partly generational: pitting some of those personally scarred by a troubled nuclear past against a younger population eager to embrace zero-carbon energy and technological advancement.
Jen Lyons, 33, stands firmly on the side of the future. Her hillside home overlooks the Susquehanna River and offers a clear view of the plant's signature cooling towers above bare trees. Safety concerns don't trouble her.
Lyons, a registered nurse, notes that her father works at a different nuclear plant, and her young son even has a Lego model of it. "When people say, 'Where do you live?' I say TMI is in my backyard," she said. "I wish they wouldn't have closed it to begin with."
Championing a nuclear-power renaissance, the Trump administration recently announced a $1 billion federal loan to Constellation Energy to restart the reactor. Constellation rebranded the site the Crane Clean Energy Center. Microsoft agreed to purchase electricity from the rebooted reactor for the next 20 years.
The reopening marks a significant moment in the mini boom that the artificial-intelligence sector is driving across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois. Major tech companies, including Microsoft and Amazon.com, are hauling nuclear reactors back to life for their energy-hungry data centers.
In Middletown, businessman Justin Hoak, 37, said Constellation, which plans to restart the reactor in 2027, had already contacted him. They asked him about hosting happy hours for the company at the brewery and distillery he is opening downtown, which is now decorated with fall banners and hay bales.
"I think it will be good for us," Hoak said, while hauling 55-pound bags of malt. "I don't get upset about all the hypotheticals."
Small-town America
Middletown, a quiet borough of about 9,500 people, sits on the Susquehanna River roughly 10 miles southeast of Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania capital.
Though locally celebrated for its proximity to a scenic railroad and the Hershey chocolate empire, the town's identity was redefined in March 1979. It was then that Middletown burst onto television screens worldwide and became synonymous with "Three Mile Island."
The accident stemmed from equipment failure and compounding human missteps. A valve designed to drain water from the plant's fuel rods stuck open, yet operators mistakenly shut down water pumps, causing a partial meltdown. The reactor sent some radiation into the air over central Pennsylvania.
Three days later, the governor advised pregnant women and preschoolers within 5 miles to evacuate. Tens of thousands fled; businesses and schools closed. On the fourth day, President Jimmy Carter visited the plant to reassure a terrified nation that the situation was under control.
According to the Energy Department's website, the incident caused no deaths or direct health effects. Health studies have offered differing conclusions on whether residents experienced elevated illness rates. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said investigations have found that the release of radiation "had negligible effects on the physical health of individuals or the environment."
The accident, which spawned congressional hearings, litigation and a criminal probe, galvanized opponents of nuclear power. Plans for new reactors were scrapped.
The island's other, undamaged, reactor restarted in 1985 but ultimately succumbed to market forces. It closed in 2019, unable to compete with low-cost natural gas. About 700 jobs were eliminated.
But a new era of voracious energy demand has arrived. Public sentiment has also shifted. Recent polling shows support for nuclear energy nears record highs. A WSJ poll last year found that first-time voters strongly favor the power source to curb carbon emissions.
In central Pennsylvania, an "intergenerational schism" shadows the restart, said Eric Epstein, 66, of Harrisburg, who joined "Three Mile Island Alert," a watchdog group, in 1984.
"Some people look at it as an economic boon," he said of the reboot. "Other people look at it as an albatross around their neck."
Constellation said the undamaged reactor at Three Mile Island went on to become one of the world's safest and best-run nuclear plants. The restart will bring 3,400 jobs to Pennsylvania, including 600 at the plant, plus an estimated $800 million in state tax revenue, which will help fund schools and government services, it said.
"We appreciate that some people are still haunted by memories of the past," the company said, "but the U.S. nuclear industry evolved and improved."
'Concerned Mothers'
Lifelong Middletown resident Ian Reddinger, 37, recalls relatives telling war stories about surviving the accident, but the businessman and borough council member now looks forward to a promised economic upswing.
"Overall, I was really disappointed when it closed and a lot of friends that I had lost jobs," he said. "Hopefully it will be a state-of-the-art facility."
John Fritz was 10 when he and his family fled to a remote cabin to wait out the crisis. Today he works for a skilled-trade union that is deploying two dozen workers to the site, and he hails the reopening as a "blessing."
However, some locals, scarred by the event, became enduring opponents. Drazba and three other women formed "Concerned Mothers and Women" in Middletown and met with an NRC official every Thursday for 2 1/2 years. One mom ran a daycare and brought the children with her.
Drazba said they were initially told to stop worrying and go home and "bake cookies."
In the 1980s, they failed to stop the reopening of the undamaged reactor, when many residents were against it. They are still seeking answers, they say, about the long-term effects of radiation that their children and others may have been exposed to. They are also concerned about the risks of storing nuclear waste on the island and whether evacuation plans are adequate, among other things.
"Over 46 years, we've all stayed the course," said Patricia Longenecker, a retiree who lives on a 35-acre former berry farm near the plant with her three donkeys, Jack, Jill and Josefina. On a recent day, her dining room was spread with newspaper clippings, an evacuation map and books critical of nuclear power.
This March, the group dug out old signs and descended on the state capitol to protest the reopening. Passing through the building's security, one woman set off a metal detector with her hip, another with her knees.
"We're old broads," said Paula Kinney, 78, a "Concerned Mothers" co-founder.
Last week, Kinney, Drazba and Gene Stilp, another longtime foe, drove to the plant gate and stuck a homemade "NO T.M.I. RESTART" sign over the facility's new corporate name. The sign would soon be removed, but their memories have yet to fade.
Kinney recalled fleeing Middletown in her slippers with her three children and husband. She is still haunted, she said, by the instant before she left when she saw her own terror reflected in her neighbor's eyes, and wondered if they would ever see each other again.
"The people that lived through it," she said, "you never forget."
Write to Kris Maher at Kris.Maher@wsj.com and Jeanne Whalen at Jeanne.Whalen@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 01, 2025 05:30 ET (10:30 GMT)
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