Economy
NY’s nuclear buildout push gets bid from Broome County and these others
Jan. 12, 2026, 5:06 a.m. ET
Eight communities in upstate New York and nearly two dozen developers are bidding for a role in New York’s nuclear power buildout.
In June, Gov. Kathy Hochul tapped the New York Power Authority to develop at least 1 gigawatt of nuclear power in upstate New York, enough to power roughly 1 million homes.
Hochul envisions smaller, state-of-the-art reactors at one or more sites instead of traditional reactors with towering containment domes associated with the 1979 film, “The China Syndrome,” which once stoked fears of nuclear disaster.
“This is not your grandparents’ nuclear reactor,” Hochul said in June. “You’re not going to see this in a movie starring Jane Fonda.”
Hochul says power from advanced reactors will provide electricity to some of the energy-hungry data centers and semiconductor factories planned for upstate. Tech giant Micron is building a $100 billion manufacturing hub for semiconductors in Clay, near Syracuse.
Which communities want to host
NYPA released the list of communities who’ve inquired about playing host, including:
- Broome County
- Jefferson County
- Oswego County
- Schuyler County
- St. Lawrence County
- Wayne County
- City of Dunkirk
- RED-Rochester
Oswego is already home to three of the state’s four working reactors, two at Nine Mile Point and a third at neighboring James A. FitzPatrick. Both are located on a 900-acre site on Lake Ontario.
Twenty miles east of Rochester is the Robert Emmett Ginna nuclear plant, home to a 580-megawatt pressurized water reactor in Ontario, NY. All of the reactors have been around since the 1970s.
The release of the list kicked off some opposition movements upstate. On Monday, the Finger Lakes-based environmental group, Seneca Lake Guardian, plans a protest ahead of the Schuyler County Legislature Meeting in Watkins Glen.
“Citizens from across the region are showing up to tell decision-makers to advance renewable energy and protect our health, not invest in a financial boondoggle,” said Yvonne Taylor, the group’s vice president.
To keep the three upstate plants running, the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017 crafted a bailout plan with some $7.6 billion in ratepayer-backed funding subsidies over 12 years.
NYPA also released the list of the 23 companies who’ve expressed interest in partnering with NYPA to develop nuclear power. Among them is Constellation Energy, which owns the three upstate nuclear plants and Holtec International, which is dismantling the shuttered Indian Point nuclear power plant in the Westchester County village of Buchanan.
23 developers sign up
Here’s the rest of the list:
- Accenture
- AECOM
- Blue Energy
- Burns & McDonnell
- Candu Energy
- Elementl Power
- GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
- Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company
- Metro Nuclear
- NANO Nuclear Energy
- Natura Resources
- NextEra Energy Resources
- Nuclear Promise X (NPX)
- nVision Energy
- Oppenheimer Energy
- Rolls Royce SMR Limited
- Terra Power
- The Nuclear Company
- Westinghouse Electric Company
- WSP USA
- X Energy
Last month, NYPA announced the hiring of Todd Josifovski, a nuclear power executive from Canada, as the utility’s new senior vice president for nuclear development. He’ll work with Christopher Hanson, the former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who was fired by the Trump Administration in June and then hired by New York Power Authority in December.
The same month, NYPA said it would be collaborating with Canada’s Ontario Power Generation to develop advanced nuclear power in New York. NYPA will select communities and developers this year.
“The enthusiastic response to the Power Authority’s first round of solicitations reflects a strong desire from communities and collaborators that are ready and willing to help us lead New York into its clean energy future,” said Justin Driscoll, NYPA’s president and CEO.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA TODAY Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at [email protected]
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