The Biggest Impediment to Kathy Hochul's Pro-Nuclear Plan for New York Is the Government
Hochul's plan for the government to lead in building a new nuclear power plant is a surprising one, given New York's history of using top-down policies to shut down the energy source.
New York is jockeying to build the first advanced nuclear power plant in the nation.
On Monday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced that she was directing "the state's public electric utility to add at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear-power generation to its aging fleet of reactors," reports The Wall Street Journal. This is enough to power roughly 1 million homes. The state's three nuclear power plants generated 22 percent of New York's electricity in 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Hochul, who provided few specifics or a timeline of her plan, said that the New York Power Authority (the second largest government-owned utility in the country) will "develop and construct" the facility "either alone or in partnership with private entities."
While Hochul's announcement may normalize support for the energy source in the United States, her idea to have the government lead the way could thwart the plan's success. It's also a surprising strategy given New York's history of using government coercion to shut down the energy source.
In 2021, Indian Point Energy Center, a two-gigawatt nuclear power plant less than 50 miles from New York City, was shut down under pressure from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, who said having a nuclear power plant that close to a city defied "basic sanity." After the closure of the plant, which met about a quarter of NYC's electricity needs with carbon-free power, the state's carbon dioxide emissions climbed as more natural gas was brought on to replace Indian Point's energy production.
Hochul, who was Cuomo's lieutenant governor at the time, has since opposed the closure of the plant. "Let's be honest. In doing that, we turned off one quarter of New York City's power and it was almost all clean energy," she said on Monday.
New York isn't the only state whose government has nixed nuclear energy.
Driven by fears of waste and radiation, several states implemented moratoriums or restrictions on the power source beginning in the 1970s, including New York, which has banned nuclear power plant construction on parts of Long Island. The bans hollowed out the workforce and domestic supply chain of nuclear power, which are two factors that were, at least partially, responsible for the project delays and cost overruns at Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia, America's most recently built nuclear power plants.
Entrusting the state to lead the build-out of a multi-billion-dollar project also ignores the most obvious government-imposed impediment to nuclear power: regulations. From complex licensing and permitting processes to strict requirements on what material can be used, regulations drive up the cost of nuclear power plant construction for no benefit to public health and safety.
To her credit, Hochul recognizes this. "Why does it take a decade [to build a nuclear power plant]?" she told the Journal. "That's why no one is doing it; the barriers are too high." Hochul also said that she has lobbied the Department of Government Efficiency to focus on streamlining operations at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These advocacy efforts may be paying off; in May, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders to bolster nuclear power by streamlining federal regulations.
Nuclear power, which is clean, safe, and reliable, has long been shuttered or outlawed entirely by blue states. Hochul's announcement could destigmatize the energy source nationally, but the success of her plan will depend on how much the government is willing to get out of the way.
