New York Governor Kathy Hochul has ordered the New York Power Authority to develop at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear power capacity, marking the first large US reactor project launched in more than 15 years and an early test of President Donald Trump’s push to fast-track federal permits.
Hochul said the aim is to “make sure that every company that wants to come to New York and everyone who wants to live here will never have to worry about reliability and affordability when it comes to their utility costs.”
NYPA—created in 1931 by then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt—will select a reactor design, secure an upstate site, and decide whether to proceed alone or with private partners.
The 1GW target—roughly enough to power one million homes—would partially replace the output lost when the Indian Point plant closed in 2021 and forced the state to burn more natural gas. Nuclear plants still supply about 19% of US electricity, yet total capacity has slipped 4% since 2012 as retirements outpaced new builds.
Hochul framed the project as a practical gauge of Trump’s May executive orders to “overhaul the US nuclear regulator, fast-track licenses, boost domestic fuel supplies, and free up federal land.”
“Why does it take a decade? That’s why no one is doing it; the barriers are too high,” she said.
Potential sites include Constellation Energy’s Nine Mile Point complex, where NYPA and Constellation are already pursuing a federal grant for additional reactors. The state is also studying Ontario’s plan for four small modular reactors—factory-built units that could trim both timelines and costs.
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