New York state wants more nuclear power in a big way

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that her state will host a massive new one Nuclear power plants It is designed to generate at least 1 gigawatt of electricity.

“If we remove the nucleus from the table, we have to burn more fossil fuels,” Hochul said at a press conference. “It’s not going to work for us here in New York.”

The governor is in charge of the New York Electric Power Bureau. The New York Power Department owns and operates 20 power plants (mainly dams and gas turbines) and will develop new facilities. The plan is still in its early stages. The NYPA, a state government organization, has yet to select a location or design.

Hochul said the state will work with private partners to develop power plants and fund construction while purchasing the electricity it generates.

The sites under consideration include three nuclear power plants currently operating in upstate New York. According to To the Wall Street Journal. They are all owned by Core Energy and are pleading with high-tech companies to buy production from their nuclear portfolios.

Both Microsoft and Meta currently trade with Constellation: Microsoft Reopening the reactor On 3 Mile Island in Pennsylvania on a $1.8 billion project, Meta is Buy Clean Energy Attributes The contract for Illinois’ Clinton Clean Energy Center reportedly is worth billions of dollars. Amazon I recently signed a contract There is Talen Energy, which buys 2 gigawatts of nuclear power in Pennsylvania.

However, the nuclear industry is still facing some potential headwinds. For more than 15 years, new nuclear power plants have not been broken in the United States.

The newest, large-scale nuclear power plants in the United States were blown away through deadlines, exceeding billions of budgets. A small modular reactor, Many Startup It is pursuing and commits to addressing these concerns by leveraging mass production, but the commercial viability of the technology remains untested until some are built.

Hochul said the success of the project will depend on permits for regulations and reform at the federal level. Previously large nuclear power plants took years to complete the process. “The barrier is in Washington,” she said.

Nuclear power is receiving renewed interest as high-tech companies and data center developers flush the grid for new power sources. Also, it has become rare The key to agreement It suggests that the new nuclear renaissance could refresh the country’s aging nuclear fleet among Democrats and Republicans.

“If we don’t get on, it’s going past us,” Hochur said.