Nuclear plant Three Mile Island is reopening to power Microsoft AI’s growing energy demands A new deal will have the site of the worst nuclear meltdown in American history power Microsoft’s data centers for the next 20 years.

 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Friday it has not yet gotten an application from Constellation Energy (CEG.O), opens new tab on restarting the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.

Constellation and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab 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.

 Boeing on Friday replaced the head of its troubled defense and space business, which has struggled with money-losing government contracts and embarrassing setbacks involving its Starliner space capsule.

The company said Theodore “Ted” Colbert III was removed immediately as president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security and replaced temporarily by the division’s chief operating officer, Steve Parker. A search is underway for a permanent replacement.

Colbert spent 15 years at Boeing, serving as chief information officer and leading its global services business before running the defense unit.

Kelly Ortberg, who took over as Boeing CEO last month, said in a memo announcing Colbert’s departure, “At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world. Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments.”

Boeing is trying to dig out from unprofitable contracts with the Pentagon and NASA, including new Air Force One presidential planes and refueling tankers for the Air Force.

Since the start of 2022, the defense and space division has lost $6 billion, slightly more than Boeing’s airplane business.

The Starliner capsule that Boeing built for NASA suffered problems with thrusters on its first crewed mission to the international space station. NASA decided this month it was too risky for two astronauts to fly home in the capsule, so they will stay in space until February and ride back to Earth on a SpaceX capsule.

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar is making changes after reviewing its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies amid mounting scrutiny of such initiatives at corporations around the country.

A memo sent by Caterpillar executives to the company's employees that was reviewed by FOX Business explained that the DEI changes include requiring that all corporate training be oriented to focus on business operations, as well as requiring approval from senior leaders for bringing in external speakers or participating in external surveys and awards.

The changes come as anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck said he had been in discussions with the company about his plans to "expose their woke policies" which resulted in the preemptive changes, which he outlined in a social media post.

Caterpillar said in the memo that going forward, "All training, both formal and informal, must be focused on our business and designed to foster high performance and execution of our enterprise strategy."

Caterpillar informed employees it was making changes to its diversity, equity and inclusion policies. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The company explained the policy change regarding participation in external surveys and award processes, noting that most "require extensive company resources, including employee time."

"The decision to participate in a survey or apply for an award must be focused on our business objectives and approved in writing by the responsible Senior Vice President, Group President and Chief Human Resources Officer," Caterpillar leaders wrote.

Similar requirements will be in place for bringing in an external speaker to talk to Caterpillar employees, as the company will now require approval from senior vice presidents who are "responsible for ensuring that speakers are properly vetted and the content aligns to our enterprise strategy and purpose."

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
CAT	CATERPILLAR INC.	368.92	-4.49	-1.20%

Caterpillar is also planning to issue new guidelines for its Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). The company's website lists a variety of ERGs available to its employees who share similar life experiences or interests, including ERGs for employees based on racial and ethnic background; gender identity and sexual orientation; disability; veteran status; healthy living and physical activity; as well as for younger workers and experienced professionals.

"Our ERGs exist to foster an inclusive culture through internal networking, mentoring, and development opportunities in support of our enterprise strategy," Caterpillar wrote. "To ensure this focus, new ERG guidelines will soon be distributed that govern external sponsorships and donations, external speakers, training, and more. All ERGs will remain open to all employees."

Caterpillar's changes include approval requirements for outside speakers and sponsors of employee resource groups. (Gen Yuhe/VCG via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Caterpillar's move comes as other major corporations have rolled back aspects of their DEI policies amid blowback over "woke" policies.

Ford announced last month that it would make changes to its ERGs and that it would not publicly comment on polarizing political issues, as well as telling the workforce that it does not use quotas in hiring.

Molson Coors said earlier this month that it was doing away with DEI training now that all employees had completed it. It also announced it would scrap its defined supplier diversity goals and, starting next year, will remove "aspirational representation goals" from its executives' compensation plans.

Molson Coors is another company that recently rolled back DEI policies. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Both Ford and Molson Coors ended their participation in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which is an annual survey and report used to gauge "policies, practices, and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) employees" compiled by the progressive Human Rights Campaign. Caterpillar stopped participating in the HRC's index last year.

Starbucks said in posts on X that he had corresponded with both companies about their DEI policies in advance of the changes being announced.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
F	FORD MOTOR CO.	10.85	-0.07	-0.64%
LOW	LOWE'S COMPANIES INC.	260.07	-0.94	-0.36%
DE	DEERE & CO.	406.09	-3.44	-0.84%
TSCO	TRACTOR SUPPLY CO.	274.89	+0.92	+0.34%

Lowe's, John Deere, and Tractor Supply have also taken steps to revise and roll back DEI policies in recent months.

 Remember HQ2? Amazon.com’s (AMZN.O), opens new tab 2017 quest to expand, opens new tab its North American base beyond Seattle sparked a circus-like courtship to host as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. The new location in northern Virginia hasn’t lived up to the hype, but there may be hope for it yet after Chief Executive Andy Jassy ordered everyone back to the office five days a week. The woeful lack of imagination, though, is indicative of bigger problems.

Jassy told staff, opens new tab this week that working from home will end next year, with few exceptions. The $2 trillion company also is dispensing with shared desks in favor of assigned seats at locations where it was previously the norm. The boss makes no apologies about turning back the clock: “Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward.”

The problem is that times have changed. For one thing, the cost of living in and around Seattle has grown faster than the rest of the country. Hiring at the initial HQ2 site sputtered short of the initial target and construction of phase two was delayed. Layoff plans also have not endeared the company to the community.

Amazon's home city is pricier than US broadly

In the meantime, a new generation entered the workforce during the pandemic. They want facetime with colleagues, but also value working remotely, according to research, opens new tab from Handshake, which helps college students find jobs. It’s important that employers consistently reassess collaboration and culture. For technology companies especially, which used food and foosball to get a leg up on recruitment, cutting-edge virtual reality and artificial intelligence provide new opportunities to do so.

Amazon has lost its inventive spark, opens new tab, however. From homegrown projects like virtual assistant Alexa to acquisitions such as grocery chain Whole Foods, it has largely been a decade of disappointment. The banality is evident in a stock price that has significantly underperformed those of Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, and barely exceeded Walmart’s (WMT.N), opens new tab over the past five years. Jassy says he wants the company “to operate like the world’s largest startup,” consistently wowing customers. Reviving workplaces from a bygone era is not an encouraging way to start.