The New York Power Authority confirms Dunkirk is one of eight upstate communities that responded to the state\u2019s search for more nuclear power.<\/p>\n
The question now is: does Dunkirk have what the state is looking for, and who could end up paying for new nuclear power?<\/p>\n
The former NRG power plant in Dunkirk has been closed for about a decade.<\/p>\n
Now, local leaders want to see power generated there again, this time, from nuclear energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s on Lake Erie and, you know, nuclear plants do require water,\u201d state Sen. George Borrello said. \u201cAnd we have the infrastructure there. There\u2019s already a huge amount of electrical infrastructure because it already generated power.\u201d<\/p>\n
And those are some of the same factors the state says it will consider.<\/p>\n
NYPA says their requirements include access to stable water sources, existing infrastructure, a skilled workforce and support from the community and local government.<\/p>\n
\u201cDunkirk was the only community in Western New York that applied for this,\u201d Borrello said. \u201cAnd, you know, therefore I think we obviously have a very good chance of getting it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The search comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul makes nuclear a larger part of New York\u2019s energy plans.<\/p>\n
The state is developing a pathway for four gigawatts of new advanced nuclear power on top of at least one gigawatt Hochul previously directed NYPA to develop upstate. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The state argues nuclear could provide round-the-clock, zero-emission power as electricity demand grows.<\/p>\n
But not everyone agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy big concern was cost,\u201d Mark Dunlea, coordinator at People of Albany United for Safe Energy (PAUSE), said. \u201cAnd that remains a huge concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunlea argues the state should put more money into renewable energy and storage instead.<\/p>\n
But that raises another question, that if New York shuts down fossil fuel generation and rejects nuclear, what provides power during periods when wind and solar output is low?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that\u2019s why you have the battery energy storage system,\u201d Dunlea said.<\/p>\n
NYPA, however, says advanced nuclear is part of the governor\u2019s approach to keep power available around the clock.<\/p>\n
In a statement to Spectrum News 1, NYPA says, in part:<\/p>\n
\u201cNYPA continues to explore every avenue to make certain that its project advances quickly and in a cost-effective manner, as called for by Governor Hochul.\u201d<\/p>\n
The public was originally facing a deadline on Aug. 10 to weigh in on the state\u2019s nuclear policy options.<\/p>\n
That deadline has now been extended to Sept. 24.<\/p>\n
So, the major question the state has not answered is where.<\/p>\n
They say they\u2019re still looking into all eight upstate communities that have responded. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s work does not end with the September comment deadline. The advanced nuclear master plan is expected by the end of this year.<\/p>\n
So for Dunirk, while the interest is official, for now, the selection is not.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Power Authority confirms Dunkirk is one of eight upstate communities that responded to the state\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113,120066,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,112,87,200],"class_list":["post-318303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-buffalo","tag-nai-remy","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}