Some presidents sign bills. Some give speeches. And then there’s President Trump… a man who wakes up, writes an ALL CAPS POST ON TRUTH SOCIAL, and on some days… resurrects a nuclear plant whose name still makes boomers sweat.

On Tuesday, the administration dropped a fat $1 billion loan on Constellation Energy to reboot the reactor formerly known as Three Mile Island Unit 1. Yes, that Three Mile Island. The one my neighbor Tim literally used as an excuse for why his hairline “suddenly changed direction.”

But don’t call it Three Mile Island anymore. Constellation rebranded the place in 2024 to the Crane Clean Energy Center, because nothing says “totally safe and normal” like swapping the old name after a partial meltdown and hoping nobody remembers 1979.

(Source: Fox News)

And now Trump wants the thing back online by 2027. Because why build new reactors when you can dig up the old ones like Jurassic Park fossils and tell the DOE to “make it happen”?

This whole revival tour started when Microsoft (drunk off AI-powered ambition and cashing cloud-checks like it’s an addiction) signed a power purchase agreement with Constellation. The plan was to restart the shuttered 835-megawatt reactor to feed Redmond’s endless data-center appetite. Well, AI is now eating so much electricity that the PJM grid (65 million people across 13 states) is looking at Microsoft like, “Hey uh… you good?” Microsoft: “Totally. We just bought a reactor.”

Greg Beard (the DOE’s in-house nuclear hype man) told reporters that Constellation could’ve financed the project without government help. But the loan “lowers cost of capital,” which is Washington-speak for: “Look, if we don’t help restart this thing, your electric bill is gonna double.”

Beard said the loan will make electricity cheaper for PJM ratepayers (read: anyone who enjoys lights). And because Trump signed four new nuclear-boosting executive orders in May, DOE is practically walking around with a nuclear streamer gun yelling, “Next reactor! Who wants one?”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright (who has clearly seen the grid stress charts) said DOE’s loan arm is now focused on one thing: nukes, nukes, and more nukes. Why? Because consumers across the PJM region are watching their electric bills climb like the price of health insurance.

AI data centers are pulling so much juice they might as well invoice themselves as public utilities. Trump’s message is: “Restart the reactors or everyone’s power bill becomes a subscription service.”

Constellation’s Crane plant is just one of the three shuttered reactors attempting a comeback this decade. We’ve officially reached the part of the AI era where Big Tech companies are out here saying: “Yeah, we want our own nuclear generators.”

Constellation has already hired hundreds of workers, run inspections, ordered major equipment, and circled 2027 like it’s graduation night.

They still need NRC approvals, water-related permits, and (obviously) to refuel the thing… which feels like a pretty important step for a nuclear reactor. But hey, progress is progress.

Investors approved too… Constellation stock is up more than 5% today. I can’t think of anything else that quite gets Wall Street going like the phrase “federally backed nuclear loan.” Trump’s nuclear stance is clear as mud: If AI wants power, America’s gonna give it the stuff that glows.

Constellation gets $1 billion. Microsoft gets a reactor. PJM gets cheaper power (hopefully). And America gets one more shot at convincing the world that nuclear energy isn't the villain in every 1980s thriller.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Microsoft as mentioned in the article.