WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Friday it has not yet gotten

an application from Constellation Energy ( CEG ) on restarting

the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.

Constellation and Microsoft ( MSFT ) have signed a data

center deal to help resurrect a reactor by 2028 at Three Mile

Island in Pennsylvania. It has been shut since 2019.

"At this point there's nothing in front of us in terms of an

application. It's up to Constellation to lay out its rationale

for justifying restart, so we're prepared to engage with the

company on next steps," said NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell.

Constellation said it had plans to file a permit application

but did not immediately specify a timeline for doing so. "We

anticipate the NRC review to be complete in 2027," a company

spokesperson said.

Nuclear proponents complain that NRC takes too long to

review licenses, and a law signed by President Joe Biden this

year is meant to help address that. But as demand for power

soars for the first time in decades, the NRC is mulling a host

of applications from new high-tech nuclear reactors and an

application from a decommissioned reactor, in Michigan called

Palisades, which if approved could be the first U.S. reactor to

come back from restart.

Burnell said the NRC will use existing review processes to

consider any licenses for TMI. Some opponents of quickly

reopening shuttered nuclear plants have filed a petition at NRC

saying the agency should adopt a new rule-making for such cases,

as no closed U.S. nuclear power plant has ever been resurrected.