DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — Residents will get to hear directly from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the reopening of Three Mile Island.

The commission announced two meetings in the coming weeks that will discuss licensing reviews, inspection activities and the environmental review of the shuttered nuclear site, which is now operated by Constellation Energy. A question and answer portion of the meeting is also on the meeting agenda.

Last year, Microsoft announced a 20-year partnership with Constellation Energy to reopen Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 to fuel its data centers. It’s just the second attempt in the United States to return a permanently closed nuclear power plant to operation.

Michigan’s Palisades Nuclear Generating Station is slated to restart this fall.

“These restart efforts, if they meet NRC requirements, could significantly contribute to the country’s energy needs in the years ahead,” the commission said in a statement.

Located on the Susquehanna River just outside Harrisburg, Three Mile Island was the site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident. A partial meltdown in 1979 destroyed one reactor, Unit 2, and leaked a small amount of radioactive gas into the area.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health kept a registry of more than 30,000 people who lived within five miles of the island during the accident. However, results never showed unusual health trends in the area.

Other studies determined the radioactive gas didn’t affect the environment. As of 2022, officials said all nuclear waste in Unit 2 had been removed.

Unit 1 continued operating for more than 45 years before retiring in 2019. The NRC’s plan for decommissioning the site would have required waiting until September 2029 to dismantle the plant, allowing time for nuclear waste storage on the site.

Now, it could reopen as soon as 2027.

Anyone interested in attending the meetings should register online. Public comment is limited and speakers are chosen via a lottery system.