NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Constellation Energy ( CEG )

is making its case to restore the operating license for

its Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the first public

meeting before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday

on the unprecedented project to restart a retired reactor.

Constellation, which announced last month that it had signed

a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft ( MSFT ) that

would enable the reopening Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island,

is also seeking to extend the life of the plant and change its

name to the Crane Clean Energy Center.

Three Mile Island, located in Pennsylvania, is widely known

for the 1979 partial meltdown of its Unit 2 reactor that was

permanently shut following the largest nuclear accident in U.S.

history.

The site's Unit 1 was shut due to economic reasons in 2019,

some 15 years before the license was set to expire.

Constellation completed initial testing this year and determined

it was physically, and financially, possible to resurrect it.

"We understand how we shut it down and we have a good idea

of how we are going to restart this," plant manager Trevor Worth

said at the NRC meeting.

No nuclear power plant has been restarted after being

retired.

The 835-megawatt reactor, which is expected to restart in

2028, would deliver power to the grid to offset electricity use

by Microsoft's ( MSFT ) data center in the region.

The effort to restore Three Mile Island, which is expected

to start work in the first quarter of 2025, cost at least $1.6

billion, and require thousands of workers, still requires

licensing modifications and permitting. Local activists have

also vowed to fight the project over safety and environmental

concerns.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the NRC will be

required to complete an environmental assessment within the

final year of any restart. The plant will require other

environmental permits, including ones for air emissions and

water pollutants.