Energy Summit Takes Nuclear Path
The answer to New York’s future electrical power needs, according to state officials gathered at a recent Energy Summit: Nuclear.
With state law mandating a switch from fossil fuels to all-electric for everything from home heating to school buses, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is confronting the realization that wind and solar just won’t cut it when it comes to driving the economy and meeting the basic needs of the citizenry. Characterizing nuclear fission as a green energy source, they’re looking to nuclear fission to carry the day.
“About 75 percent of the discussion was nuclear,” said Senator Mario Mattera, who attended the Syracuse summit as a ranking member of the Energy and Communications Committee. “They’re eyeballing it as a way to continue our energy future. But in the meantime, they're pushing all-electric, and we just don't have the infrastructure for it. Forcing us to go that route so quickly will be a complete disaster.”
Discussing the administration’s green energy plans, Hochul’s chief energy operative, Doreen Harris, stated: “The summit also tracks with the recent White House Summit on Domestic Nuclear Deployment held in May that highlighted progress being made across the public and private sectors on how to maintain the use of existing nuclear facilities, deploy new nuclear technologies, streamline the process for responsibly siting new reactors, and build robust supply chains and workforce.”
According to Harris, the President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), technology options under consideration range from long-duration energy storage technologies to grid-forming inverters and small modular nuclear reactors. She made it clear that the state’s ambitious green energy goals rely on federal dollars, and the state “successfully leveraging future funding opportunities to continue our progress.”
The White House agreed, saying in a statement: “Alongside renewable power sources like wind and solar, a new generation of nuclear reactors is now capturing the attention of a wide range of stakeholders for nuclear energy’s ability to produce clean, reliable energy and meet the needs of a fast-growing economy, driven by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and manufacturing boom.”
Long Islanders are naturally gun-shy about nuclear power, having lived through the Shoreham debacle, which cost an estimated $23.5 billion and never produced a single kilowatt for the ratepayers who are still footing the bill decades later.
“Not only will they be incredibly expensive, but where are you going to put the nuclear plants?” Senator Mattera wondered. “No one in this state will want it,” he said, noting that the Andrew Cuomo administration closed the Indian Point nuclear facility in Westchester. “This is really dysfunctional government at its worst.”
As a more realistic option, Mattera recommended that the state take advantage of its massive supply of natural gas. “It burns clean, we have a lot of it, the plants can be built quickly, and it’s infinitely less expensive than what they’re trying to do,” he said. “Instead of shutting down our existing plants, which would leave us vulnerable to blackouts and brownouts, l propose a carbon capture scrubber on every stack to eliminate emissions.”
Mattera said he discussed carbon capture systems with the state energy officials at the summit, which included NYSERDA Board Chairman Richard Kauffman, Department of Public Service CEO Rory Christian, and Power Authority President and CEO Justin Driscoll. “They didn’t want to hear it.”
New York currently has four nuclear facilities in operation: The Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario, the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba, and the Nine Mile Point Units 1 and 2, also in Scriba. All four of the stations are on the southern shore of Lake Ontario and provide what’s known as “baseload” energy, power that’s available all of the time, unlike solar or wind, which are intermittent sources.