New York to build country's first advanced nuclear power plant in more than a decade

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — New York will build the country's first advanced nuclear power plant in more than a decade, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday.

The plant will produce enough output to power around one million homes.

Hochul requested that the new plant produce 1 gigawatt of electricity generation to the state's nuclear power. The New York Power Authority will identify a site in upstate New York to host the new plant, as well as the design. The state will seek out private partners to produce the electricity, and then the state will buy the power.

The new plant is expected to create around 1,200 permanent jobs, on top of 1,600 construction jobs. It is unclear when exactly the new plant will open.

Hochul said that a major focus of the plant will be making sure that rates for electricity don't go up over time. She wants to work bipartisan with President Donald Trump to ensure that the program happens.

"Rate payers must know that there's going to be reliability, no cost escalation, and to be able to see into the future what their bills will look like," Hochul said at the announcement in Lewiston on Monday.

There are currently 54 nuclear plants operating in the U.S. Three of them are located in New York, all on the shoreline of Lake Ontario: Ginna Power Plant, northeast of Rochester and FitzPatrick Power Plant and Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, both northeast of Oswego. The three of them power just under four million homes in New York combined, according to Nuclear Energy Institute.

State Senator George Borrello has called for the state to put the site in Dunkirk on the former NRG power plant site.

Critics of nuclear power have cited high costs and potential safety risks as reasoning for why the country should use less nuclear power. New York shut down Indian Point Energy Center, a plant a little over 25 miles north of New York City, in 2020 due to safety concerns.

"I know people are anxious about this. Many people have not experienced it," Hochul said. "But they need to know we've had decades of people living in our state with nuclear right next door. It's part of the community and they know that their energy is going to be reliable."

You can watch the full announcement in the video player above.