Having A Home Next To A Nuclear Power Plant May Become More Common

September 30, 2024
  • Microsoft Purchasing All Electricity Generated At Three Mile Island To Power AI
  • Nuclear Accidents At Three Mile Island And Chernobyl Stalled Expansion Of Nuclear Power
  • No Apparent Adverse Impact On Local Housing Markets Yet, But More Research Needed.

The other day, I learned how Microsoft was going to solve its intense power needs for its nascent Artificial Intelligence (AI) efforts. They licensed all the power from Unit 1 at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania for the next 20 years. Unit 1 had provided electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes for thirty years until it was retired in 2022. Unit 2 was the infamous one that suffered a partial meltdown that occurred twelve days before the movie blockbuster The China Syndrome was released. That coincidence added to the gravitas of the movie release, and Saturday Night Live did a big production, calling it the “Pepsi Syndrome,” which I remember watching as a kid. Today, with AI-fueled demand, nuclear power might be making a comeback, and proximity to housing markets will become something to research further. I’m not a subject matter expert on nuclear power, but I’m curious about the potential impact, if any, on local housing prices. I would love your thoughts on it since today is my birthday.

There are currently 93 operating nuclear reactors at 54 nuclear power plants in the U.S.

Source: Sigma Earth

With the Three Mile Island disaster in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, electrical capacity has essentially leveled off. This is why the Microsoft announcement has proponents of nuclear energy encouraged for the first time in decades. Aside from these disasters, they create the ability to generate a lot of electricity without greenhouse gas emissions, the key issue causing global warming.

The Need For More Power And Housing

I was surprised that there is so little written about the intersection of housing and nuclear power plants aside from silly journalism like this. There was a white paper written in 1997 by researchers at Marquette University in Wisconsin and Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois: Nuclear Power Plants and Residential Housing Prices: Evidence from Two California Plants.

To save you a read, this note is from the abstract:

“Based on the evidence from the plants chosen, these findings do not support the contention that negative imagery surrounding nuclear power plants or stored nuclear waste has a significant detrimental influence on residential home prices in the immediate vicinity of these facilities.”

Of course, there are other concerns like adverse birth outcomes, but nominal discussion about the impact on adjacent housing markets specifically.

Final Thoughts On Nuclear Proximity

Source Bisconti Research

Public support for nuclear energy appears to be high and rising. The general takeaway is much more positive from people who live nearby, presumably because they have already rationalized their decision. Perhaps the logic comes down to why people choose to live in areas threatened by hurricanes, tornados, and wildfires. I don’t know, but I do know this is a topic that will be analyzed a lot more in the coming years.

Monday Mailboxes, Etc. – Sharing reader feedback on Housing Notes.

September 24, 2024: Creating Phantom Co-op Prices To Distort Public Record Is Unethical

  • I think your stance in the newsletter is too soft and understates the issue. There is a large body of case law and legal opinions out there that this practice is not only unethical but downright ILLEGAL, despite the Business Judgement exception. A co-op that unreasonably or arbitrarily sets a minimum sales price could be illegally limiting an owner’s right to alienation/disposition of real property, and there are more than one judgement finding just that. Your penultimate paragraph powerfully points out the way buyers are injured by this practice, but sellers are injured by the practice as well and possibly moreso. I’ve had experience with a co-op where 4 different buyers were rejected by the board before the 5th was finally approved. It took the seller 3 years to sell the property. Co-Ops are preventing sellers from reasonable disposition of their property and costing sellers thousands in not only “potential” losses, but real losses in the form of additional mortgage and maintenance payments that the seller wouldn’t otherwise have to pay if they could consummate a sale more quickly. 

Did you miss Friday’s Housing Notes?

September 27, 2024

Florida Gulf Coast Housing Was Rocked Like A Hurricane

Image: ChatGPT

Housing Notes Reads

Market Reports

Extra Curricular Reads