Gov. Kathy Hochul’s intent to build a nuclear power plant in Upstate New York has sparked near-instantaneous interest and acute concern among state lawmakers.
State Republicans have suggested that Hochul, a Democrat, was slow to see the potential in nuclear power, while their party has long advocated for it. Those same Republicans have dashed to put their districts at the top of site options for what could be the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. in 15 years.
Hochul announced last week that she had directed the New York state Power Authority to develop plans for a new zero-emissioned advanced nuclear power plant that would generate at least 1 gigawatt of power – enough for about 1 million homes.
“I’m glad she’s turning the corner on this,” said state Sen. Jake Ashby, a Republican from the Capitol Region. “I would be really surprised if any of my colleagues wouldn’t be interested in having a modular reactor in their district.
“I think that is going to be life-changing for so many people.”
But some upstate lawmakers — mostly Democrats — said they needed more assurances from the governor that nuclear energy is affordable for ratepayers and reliable for the state.
“I appreciate what the governor is trying to do: She’s trying to add reliable, sustainable energy to the grid,” said state Sen. Pete Harckham, a Westchester County Democrat who leads the Senate’s Committee on Environmental Conservation. “Unfortunately, I don’t think a nuclear plant does either of those.”
The New York Power Authority, which oversees state’s natural gas and electric utilities, will work with state officials to scout a site for the nuclear power plant. In the past, most of the state’s nuclear power plants have been near large bodies of water, primarily Lake Ontario, as the power generators need water for cooling.
Oswego County, for example, hosts three nuclear power plants: Nine Mile Point Units 1 and 2, and the James A. FitzPatrick plant. Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, who represents Oswego, said his district has the industry know-how to welcome another plant.
“Clearly, we’ve demonstrated in Oswego County that the support is there, and I think there’s strong support to increase our nuclear fleet,” the Republican leader said.
The case for Rochester, and WNY
State Republicans have been joined by some Democrats in vying for the nuclear power plant. Former Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy, who now leads the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce, said the Rochester region has an existing blueprint for a new plant with the R. E. Ginna Nuclear Plant in Wayne County.
“Ginna is an outstanding facility providing a lot of energy here, so certainly with Lake Ontario nearby it would be advantageous,” Duffy said. “I just believe that nuclear is much safer than people think, and it’s very clean, efficient, reliable energy.”
State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, Chautauqua County, represents one of the state’s largest legislative districts spanning also spanning Allegany, Cattaraugus and parts of Livingston County.
He said his district has been conducting studies on potentially re-powering the NRG power plant in Dunkirk. That facility originally burned coal and was going to transition to natural gas but shut down in 2016 -- which Borrello said has hurt Dunkirk economically.
Putting the plant back online by transitioning it to nuclear power, Borrello said, could get New York on track to having the new nuclear power plant done “in the shortest period of time.”
“You have the infrastructure in place,” Borrello said of the existing plant. “You certainly have the workforce that was there, that continues to be there.”
Republicans in eastern New York and the North Country also have chimed in, saying that Lake Champlain could serve as a reliable water source should the plant be located there.
Universities such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and science research labs in the area could provide much-needed technological expertise, Ashby said, if the plant were in his district.
“It makes a lot of sense for the manufacturing center to the within the Capitol Region,” he said.
Questions on cost, safety
Some lawmakers, however, say they need more answers from the governor about where nuclear waste will be stored, and how much the plant will cost ratepayers.
“I have questions on all of those fronts, about whether it is cost-effective, and whether it is safe, and I need a lot more reassurance about that,” said state Sen. Rachel May, D-Syracuse.
May said with state ratepayers already “underwriting” nuclear generation in the state by $500 million annually – the estimated annual subsidy for maintenance of the state’s four nuclear reactors -- she is concerned that the cost of a nuclear power plant could be exorbitant.
Harckham, who agrees with May that the plant is “not gonna be affordable electricity,” said his concerns also stem from his own district’s past with nuclear energy. The nuclear reactors at Indian Point, located in Buchanan, were shut down in 2021, out of worries that it was polluting the nearby Hudson River.
“No one has ever come up with a way to address the waste,” Harckham said. “And so the Village of Buchanan, which I represent, will be a nuclear waste repository forever.”
