Military officials last month announced Fort Drum would be part of a $2 billion project to provide nuclear power to five installations across the country.
It’s a move those same officials say shows just how important Fort Drum is to the nation.
The small nuclear power reactor is also music to the ears of those across the state because as some say, it means the northern New York region will have its economic engine for a long time to come.
“These are all critical Army installations. We would not be putting nuclear reactors if these were not important Army installations,” said Jeff Waksman, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment.
“Anytime you can add a capability to an Army installation and insure its longevity, it’s great news,” Watertown City Manager Eric Wagner said.
“Drum” is the largest single-site employer in the northeast. It and its 10th Mountain Division pump about $2 billion annually into the local economy. It’s home to some 20,000 direct and indirect jobs.
“Fort Drum really is part of the fabric, the social fabric, the economic fabric of this region. You pull that thread and it all does start to unravel when it’s something that significant,” said David Zembiec, executive director of Advocate Drum.
The organization does just that, serving as a voice to decisionmakers in Washington. This announcement, he said, is three years in the making.
“When they visited Fort Drum, my guess is that they saw that the infrastructure is there. They saw the community is supportive,” Zembiec said.
He believes that all of that community support, from his organization, from the North Country, from New York state, had a big hand in help making this happen.
“There are a number of reasons why Fort Drum would have been selected, and we’re glad that it was,” he said.
The reactor is expected to be up and running sometime before 2030, and the Army says it will depend on the North Country, its workforce and the private sector to help make it happen.
The project will not fully power Fort Drum. The installation will continue to draw from the grid, but perhaps not as much, and in an emergency, will be able to get critical power from the reactor.