Posted on 06/25/2025 5:32:44 AM PDT by MtnClimber
In case you missed it, here is New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s breathless announcement from yesterday: “Governor Hochul Directs New York Power Authority to Develop a Zero-Emission Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology Power Plant.” And here is Hochul’s picture of herself making the announcement:
Does something here seem like it doesn’t quite fit? Yes, it was just four years ago, in April 2021, that New York completed the forced closure of the two perfectly functional Indian Point nuclear plants, with combined generating capacity of about 2 GW, for no other reason than relentless opposition from environmentalists and NIMBYs. And yet now the Governor is saying that the plan is to start over and build a new nuclear plant at some unspecified place.
Before getting to a few of the problems, let’s start with some of the excited language from the Governor’s press release:
Governor Kathy Hochul today directed the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to develop and construct a zero-emission advanced nuclear power plant in Upstate New York to support a reliable and affordable electric grid, while providing the necessary zero-emission electricity to achieve a clean energy economy. . . . “As New York State electrifies its economy, deactivates aging fossil fuel power generation and continues to attract large manufacturers that create good-paying jobs, we must embrace an energy policy of abundance that centers on energy independence and supply chain security to ensure New York controls its energy future,” Governor Hochul said. . . .
NYPA, in coordination with the Department of Public Service (DPS), will seek to develop at least one new nuclear energy facility with a combined capacity of no less than one gigawatt of electricity, either alone or in partnership with private entities, to support the state's electric grid and the people and businesses that rely on it. NYPA will immediately begin evaluation of technologies, business models, and locations for this first nuclear power plant and will secure the key partnerships needed for the project. This process will include site and technology feasibility assessments as well as consideration of financing options, in coordination with the forthcoming studies included in the master plan. . . .
Now who wouldn’t want “a reliable and affordable electric grid” that provides “the necessary zero-emission electricity to achieve a clean energy economy”? Not meaning to be the grinch here, but let me lay out a few of the problems that I have with the approach to energy policy for New York as described by our Governor:
- Are we really talking about just one new nuclear plant with just one GW of generation capacity? That is barely a drop in the bucket compared to the immediate need, and doesn’t even meaningfully address the problem of keeping the grid operating as we pursue a statutorily-mandated transition to mostly wind and solar generation. The State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 (CLCPA) demands closure of at least 20 GW of dispatchable power plants running on natural gas; and the State’s Independent System Operator, NYISO, has stated that the State needs at least 20 GW of what they call “dispatchable emissions-free resources” (DEFR) to replace the natural gas generation. Nuclear is the only plausible DEFR. So why we are going to build only one GW of new nuclear capacity? Wouldn’t you think the Governor would at least mention the rather large disparity between the identified need and her plan?
- The Governor’s announcement doesn’t say anything about the timeline, beyond making it clear that this project hasn’t even gotten to the most preliminary of preliminary steps. (“NYPA will immediately begin evaluation of technologies, business models, and locations for this first nuclear power plant. . . .”). We don’t even know the “technology” or the “business model” yet, let alone the location. The most recent nuclear plant to begin operation in the United States — Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia — took 15 years from start of construction in 2009 until commencement of operation in 2024. Fifteen years from now is 2040, by which year the CLCPA mandates that New York produce all its electricity from “zero-emissions” sources. But before Governor Hochul’s unicorn power plant can begin construction, we must have not just selection of technology, business model, and location, but also such things as preparation and completion of an EIS, permitting, design, awarding of a contract, financing, and, don’t let me forget, defeat of a few dozen litigations attempting to block the project. We will be very, very lucky if this plant is ready to operate by 2045. 2050 would be more likely — if it ever operates at all.
- Shouldn’t there be at least some mention by the Gov that the CLCPA plan for a “zero emissions” electricity grid by 2040 has become completely unachievable — indeed, ridiculous? 20+ GW of reliable natural gas generation will go away by the mid-2030s, to be replaced by — what? One 1 GW nuclear plant, to maybe become available some time post-2045? That’s a complete joke. How about Hochul’s other plan for 6 GW/24 GWh of “grid-scale” battery storage? Per calculations at this post from March 2024, New York would need at least 720 hours of average usage, which is 12,240 GWh of energy storage, to reliably back up a grid predominantly powered by wind and sun; the 24 GWh in our Gov’s plan would be about 0.2% of that requirement. Another complete joke. Is there a third proposal? Not that I can find.
So what is Governor Hochul even thinking when she puts out a proposal for a single new nuclear power plant, describing it as supporting a future “reliable and affordable electric grid,” when she knows that her proposal represents at best 5% of what is needed and at least 5 to 10 years too late? What this proposal clearly is not is a serious plan to move toward a “zero-emissions” grid by the statutory mandate of 2040. Being charitable toward our Governor, perhaps the idea here is to lay down a marker, so that when her 1 GW nuclear plant proposal gets killed by some combination of environmental activism and bureaucratic stumbling, she will be able to say that she tried to put forth a solution but got blocked. The alternative hypothesis — that Governor Hochul actually thinks her 1 GW nuclear plant proposal is a relevant solution to the problem at hand — would imply that the Gov operates at essentially a kindergarten level of incompetence.
I’ll let you pick which of these two alternatives is more likely. Meanwhile, let this be your good laugh for today.
ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!!
The hipocracy of these communists know no bounds.....
Green energy doesn’t work and it’s too expensive.
“site and technology feasibility assessments”
Follow the money.
Gonna be buckets and buckets flowing into these “assessments” and NOTHING will get built.
Like the CA Train Grift.
Every connected TeatSucker gonna make Bank!
A sizable portion of NY state sits on top of the same Marcellus Shale that Pennsylvania is successfully extracting cheap, clean natural gas from.
NY continues to ignore this quickly exploitable cheap energy source that would bring jobs and money to a dying region and gives lip-service to the much more distant (time-wise), expensive solution instead!
I am very pro-nuclear, but NY desperately needs natural gas first, so they can bridge the time gap needed for, hopefully, multiple nuclear power plant constructions.
Now hiring left-handed, black trans lesbian disabled furry, nuclear engineers !
“ Now hiring left-handed, black trans lesbian disabled furry, nuclear engineers “
ROTFLMAO
Seriously, can you imagine the fallout from their woke ideaology ?
muslim (small letters fully intended)
I do that too. No way in hell I’m showing any respect to them.
What about that destroyed containment vessel in that nuke plant on Long Island that idiot governor did way back?
No F-ing way. Not in the US. All the agencies that could move along, much less stop a new Nuke, are hopelessly controlled by treehuggers — they don’t want clean energy, they want your children dead.
The only way a Nuke could work is to have it made by Gov’mt and then delivered to an existing site — which has sufficient transmission and cooling. Cut out all local approvals and minimize the risk of some arsehole paying off another judge.
That was a right-wing nuclear power plant. This will be a left-wing nuclear power plant. Some nuclear power plants are more equal than the rest.
I have a cousin who owns a 200 acre farm east of Buffalo out near Attica.
His parents operated it as dairy farm. He changed it to beef cattle and enough pigs/chickens, etc to feed his family and sell some beef. I takes too many ILLEGALS to operate a big milking operation today and be competitive.
He has a natural gas well on his property that National Fuel Gas put in many years ago. It feeds his house, barn, etc. So, he has free fuel.
Other than that the well has been capped for at least ten years.
I grew up in Orchard Park, NY(home of the Buffalo Bills). I knew of two other larger land owners a couple miles south of where I grew up that had capped gas wells on their property.
Just about a mile south of where I grew up there is a place in Chestnut Ridge Park where the Methane leaks out of the shale rock in a water fall. They call it “The Eternal Flame”. When we were kids. Everyone called it Gas Light Falls. You could light the flame with a Bic lighter.
My point is that there is so much Methane in the shale south of Buffalo that IF you drilled a well almost anywhere you would eventually hit gas. Sometimes, pretty close to the surface. On my parents former property the shale started about 3’ below the surface. We dug a lot of fence post holes.
I have surmised from this fact is that maybe National Fuel Gas was IN FAVOR of NY State/Coumo banning fracking. Mostly because they had so many wells capped that they did not want the value of their gas INVENTORY to decrease.
JUST MY 2 CENTS.
Just remember how liberal-controlled gov’t works: In California they ended up spending billions EACH, on a total of 9 EV charging stations - and not all were even finished.
re: “Good Laugh For Today: New York State Says It Will Build A New Nuclear Power Plant”
Somebody, quick - Ask the democrats WHAT happened to the last one?
Shoreham nuclear plant - billion plus dollar boondoggle when Mario ‘the Pious’ Cuomo closed it JUST after it was finished.
I think that’s likely. Lefties tend to be at that level when it comes to energy supply.
That was the Shorham Nuclear Plant out on Long Island. The plant was fully complete, even went through initial criticality and was ready for commercial operation, and then was shut down.
Guess who the governor then was… none other than Mario “The Pious” Cuomo, father of the ever corrupt Andrew.
That was a perfectly fine, 1000 MW power plant that cost over a billion dollars thrown away for a corrupt politician.
New York State is beyond help. Until the people there wake up from the hard left stupor they live in, nothing can save them. They are determined to destroy themselves.
Expected completion date is July 3025.
Figures.
And Kalifornia will build a choo-choo
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