New York announces it will build a new nuclear power plant

New York state will build a new nuclear power plant that will provide at least one gigawatt of electricity—enough to power about a million homes. When announcing the project on Monday, Governor Kathy Hochul said it would bring new jobs, more affordable electricity bills, and help provide around the clock power to support data centers without fossil fuels. 

The plant would be the first nuclear facility built in New York state since the late 1970s and the first major U.S. plant to break ground in about 15 years. (The last nuclear plants built in the U.S., Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia, began operation in 2023 and 2024 respectively, but construction on them began in 2009.) 

The project comes as electricity demand is expected to soar, especially due to the increase of data centers to support AI use. Nuclear power has been seen as a clean source of 24/7 power, which wind and solar cannot provide without adequate battery storage, and also as a power source that is insulated from the volatility of oil and gas prices. But some are still concerned about nuclear’s safety. 

Hochul acknowledged these fears at her announcement for the new nuclear power plant, pointing to the concerns and anxiety that led to the shut down of Indian Point, a nuclear power plant in Westchester County, New York. That facility was retired in 2021, but doing so “turned off one quarter of New York City’s power, [that] was almost all clean energy, overnight without an alternative,” Hochul said. To replace that energy, New York state burned more fossil fuels, leading to a rise in emissions.

“There was no Plan B,” Hochul said, and the increase in emission is not a trade off New York can afford to keep making. “And this is not your grandparents’ nuclear reactor,” she added about the forthcoming project. Safety will be at the forefront of the design, she said, including automatic safety systems and “rigorous” environmental standards.” The forthcoming nuclear power plant will provide 1,600 jobs during construction, and 1,200 permanent jobs once operational. 

Nuclear is seeing a surge as the demand for electricity increases and as municipalities look to get off fossil fuels. Three Mile Island, the site of the country’s worst nuclear disaster, is set to reopen in Pennsylvania in 2028 to support Microsoft’s energy needs. The Trump Administration’s support for nuclear as part of the president’s “energy dominance” agenda; Trump recently signed an executive order to expedite the licensing process for nuclear reactors. 

Hochul has spoken to the president about this New York nuclear project, she said, and is committed to working with the White House to build this plant. “You want energy dominance, I want energy dominance, this is how we do it,” she said. “So with their financial planning and hopeful support, we can move as fast as possible.” 

The average time to construct a nuclear power plant is about seven years, though the process can take longer with regulatory hurdles and financial costs. Hochul said she had suggested Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in order to make that process “more efficient.” 

There is currently no location selected for the New York nuclear power plant, though Hochul said it will be located in upstate New York. The New York Power Authority will help find a site and determine the nuclear reactor’s design. The state is also considering looking for private partners to help finance the plant.

The number one focus of the project, Hochul said, will be customers paying their electric bills: “Ratepayers must know that there’s going to be reliability, no cost escalation, and they’ll be able to see into the future what their bills will look like.”