Climate Changed
Infamous Three Mile Island Is Latest Casualty of Shale Boom
- Plant was site of worst U.S. nuclear accident in 1979
- Pennsylvania has balked at offering nuclear subsidies
The Exelon Corp. Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania, on March 18, 2011.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Competition from cheap natural gas has claimed another U.S. nuclear power plant in a state that has balked at government aid for financially ailing reactors.
Exelon Corp.’s Three Mile Island reactor near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, site of the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history in 1979, will close in 2019 after losing money for five years, the company said Tuesday in a filing. At least five nuclear power plants have retired in the past five years including Fort Calhoun in Nebraska, which closed in October, as shale gas and rising output of wind and solar power depress prices.