Talking Points: TMI Restart Meeting on 2/19/26.

[Michael J Keegan]

Dear No Nuke Community,

 

Please follow this email thread from Eric down to assembly instructions and questions to raise this Thursday evening 6-8:15pm ET.

N2

MJK

 

From: Eric Epstein <eps...@efmr.org>

Date: 02/16/2026 11:15 AM EST

 
CONTACT: Scott Burnell, 301-415-8200
NRC to Hold Public Meeting to Discuss Progress on
Potential Restart of Crane Clean Energy Center

 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a hybrid public meeting Feb. 19 to discuss the
agency’s activities related to the Crane Clean Energy Center Restart Panel.
The meeting will be held from 6-8:15 p.m. at the Student Enrichment Center, Kulkarni Theatre,
on the Penn State Harrisburg campus, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, in Middletown, Pennsylvania. The
meeting notice includes the agenda and a link to register for the Microsoft Teams version of the meeting,
for those unable to attend in person. The meeting will include an update from Constellation, NRC
presentations and a question-and-comment session for attendees to engage with the NRC’s panel
members.

The CCEC reactor (formerly Three Mile Island Unit 1) permanently ceased operations in
September 2019. In late 2024, Constellation Energy Generation, LLC, the reactor license holder,
notified the NRC of its interest in returning the plant to an operational status. The NRC created the
CCEC Restart Panel to guide staff efforts to review, inspect, and determine if the plant can be safely
returned to operation.

Additional information on a potential Crane Clean Energy Center restart can be found on the

NRC's website. 

https://www.nrc.gov/sites/default/files/cdn/doc-collection-news/2026/26-009.pdf 

Why this meeting is important?

Those of us who survived the accident and TMI and continue to live in the shadow of

the plant, have concerns about it being restarted. Foremost among those concerns

are our safety.

 

As we all know, there are more than 700 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste

stored on the island with no plan for its removal. Restarting TMI-1 will eventually get

us another 700 metric tons of radioactive wastes.

 

While nuclear reactors are formidable structures with reinforced steel throughout,

spent fuel is far less protected and far more susceptible from terrorists. As far back

as November 2001, Governor Howard Dean of Vermont was quoted in The New York Times

warning about the susceptibility of the tons of spent fuel in relatively unsecured sites across the nation.

 

While no one alive would propose putting a nuclear waste dump on an island in a

river prone to flooding, and in the flight path of just about every aircraft landing at

Harrisburg International Airport, you would think an effort would be made to remove

the tons of spent fuel on site, prior to a restart of Unit 1.

 

When discussing safety, it would be natural to raise concerns about the health risks

involved with nuclear power. But just as the modern Republican Party treats global

warming as a hoax, knowing that no one at the NRC or Constellation takes our

concerns about health seriously, we’ll move on.

​

However, the Republican Party, the NRC, and Constellation take fiscal matters

seriously. The Price Anderson Act is a taxpayer supported insurance program for

Constellation and other nuclear utilities. If there’s an accident, they’re covered. But

we know of no insurance companies publicly offering insurance that would protect

our families, farms, and property in the event of a nuclear accident. Would

Constellation provide such insurance?

 

Often, people correlate risks with benefits. While we see many risks for central

Pennsylvanians with the restart of Unit 1, we know of no benefits accruing to TMI’s

neighbors. Microsoft will be buying all the electricity generated. None of it will keep

anyone’s lights on in central Pennsylvania. Instead, the power will be resold to

Amazon for facilities far from here. And, while they get electricity for the moment,

we get radioactive wastes forever.

 

Given the unpredictability of the weather due to global warming, there may come a

time when we in central Pennsylvania may have droughts far more serious than

we’ve experienced to date. In the event that happens, will TMI be shut down so the

128 million gallons of Susquehanna River water required daily for the operation of the

plant will instead be allocated to benefit central Pennsylvanians? It is known that the

power won’t be used here, instead it will be directed to computers in data centers in

the Midwest. Do we really want to put computers before people?

 

In closing, we can’t help but conclude more nuclear power creates more terrorist

targets, more nuclear waste, less safety, less security, and fewer resources available

to upgrade the PJM grid. We know TMI. We have lived with TMI for decades.

Changing its name doesn’t change its history, the memories, or the nightmares we’ve

endured.

 

Questions that might be asked at the meeting: 

• Why does TM not have an emergency plan?

• What are the costs to ratepayers for the sweetheart deal with

Microsoft?

 

• What are the costs to ratepayers for the sweetheart

deal with Microsoft?

• The folks who paid to build the plant, will not receive the

benefits of a restart. They will not be able to purchase

homeowners’ insurance in the event of another accident. 

If nuclear is so safe, why can’t community residents buy insurance

to protect their family, farm, and property?

• Consumers, taxpayers, and citizens have been told that nuclear power

deserves a second chance because it is now environmentally friendly,

because it’s not coal, and because without nuclear, the lights will go

out on cold, windless nights.  

 

How does exporting TMI-1’s energy to another zip code keep the lights 

on in  central Pennsylvania?

 

• Three Mile Island is a high-level radioactive waste site, but

it is out room. There are 700 tons of high-level radioactive garbage

 stored in the Independent Spent Storage Facility Installation.

 

Do you think storing radioactive waste on an island in the middle of

the river is a good idea?

 

• Guess who paid for storage facility? The rate payers again. 

Constellation’s illegal raid  of the nuclear decommissioning trust fund. 

The NRC granted the exception, and Constellation pillaged the fund.

 

Will Constellation reimburse rate payers now that they are 

parachuting out of decommissioning? 

 

• TMI-1 was built with rate payer dollars, and enjoyed a bailout to 

transition to deregulation. TMI complained they couldn’t compete in the

 market place.  They were right. TMI-1 lost $300 million over eight years, 

and the free market. 

 

How many times are we going to bail TMI out?

• If TMI-1 operates for 20 years, central Pennsylvanians will be asked

to baby sit and additional 600 tons of toxic trash with no 

forwarding address. If the plant is granted a license extension than 

there will be 800 more tons of radioactive garbage marooned on 

an island that floods.

 

Howe much radioactive waste can TMI keep on site?

 

 The production of nuclear power creates more terrorist targets, more

dependency on Russian fuel, more toxic waste, but less safety, less security,

and fewer resources to upgrade the PJM grid.

 

What percentage of TMI’s fuel is mad in Russia?

  

 

 How does switching our fuel addition from OPEC oil to

 Russian uranium makes us energy independent?

  

Nuclear power plants use millions of gallons daily to cool their

superheated reactor core. There are three nuclear generation stations

on the Susquehanna River.

 

Will TMI operate during a drought?

 

       If nuclear power is so safe and improved, why does the cleanup of 

Three Mile Island Unit-2 continue to vex the industry 47 years later?

Here’s a thought: How about concentrating resources on cleaning up

the mess you made 4t years ago. 

 

         If Bill Gates wants the power, he should take out the trash.

 

https://www.nrc.gov/cdn/doc-collection-news/2025/25-043.pdf