Albany, NY — Over 1,200 comments have already been submitted in opposition to Governor Hochul’s NYSERDA Draft Blueprint for Consideration of Advanced Nuclear Technologies, in a public comment period which closes Friday. The draft plan was introduced at a September energy summit in Syracuse, where Hochul first signaled an embrace of expensive, dirty and dangerous nuclear power.

The public response was swift — 153 groups wrote to Governor Hochul in September, calling on her to keep New Yorkers safe and protect the state’s Climate Act by keeping new nuclear power out of New York.

Food & Water Watch New York Organizer Laura Shindell said:

“Hochul needs to stop trying to make nuclear happen — it’s not going to happen. New Yorkers are making clear that new nuclear plants are a nonstarter. Nuclear plants and their radioactive waste are proven to be dirty, dangerous, and costly. If Hochul wants to keep calling herself a climate leader, she has to drop the nuclear charade now and double down on building renewables.”

Nuclear power has long been proven to be too toxic, too dangerous, too expensive, and too slow to build to be a climate solution. Yet, an increase in power-hungry technologies, from cryptocurrency to micro-chips and AI, are driving a nationwide resurgence of calls for nuclear buildout, backed by powerful Big Tech corporations.

Scientists predict a 50 percent probability of a nuclear meltdown at least as costly as the Three Mile Island disaster every 10-20 years, even as the industry explores re-opening the dangerous plant. Meanwhile, nuclear energy’s lifecycle climate pollution is far higher than that of wind and solar power, as is the cost to build new nuclear plants, which can range from from 2-7 times the cost of onshore wind or utility scale solar buildout — often funded by taxpayer bailout.

“In the wake of Tuesday’s national elections, New York’s climate leadership is more important than ever. The clean energy transition is at a critical crossroads,” said Adam Flint, Director of Clean energy Programs at the Network for a Sustainable Tomorrow. “New York’s Climate law sets ambitious and appropriate objectives, but the Governor and the legislature to date have failed to appropriate the necessary funds, and instead the Governor is deviating onto a dangerous course of false solutions. Nuclear power is a waste — of money, time, and literally, as any waste generated at a nuclear facility in the US will remain a danger on-site for millions of years. We are calling on Governor Hochul to reject nuclear power and fund proven, clean and effective technologies at a level commensurate with the ambition of New York’s climate goals. This is the leadership New York needs with a climate denier soon to be in the White House.”

​​“Governor Hochul must redirect her energy away from nuclear and towards a just Cap & Invest program, an empowered NYPA that can build public renewables at the scale we need, and to a whole of government approach to meeting our climate mandates,” said Ryan Madden, Climate & Energy Campaigns Director with the Long Island Progressive Coalition. “As an organization that was part of the movement to stop the Shoreham nuclear power plant, which Long Islanders are still paying for today, it’s unimaginable to see the resurgence of nuclear when its failures have been so clear. An investment in new nuclear is a perpetuation of environmental injustice and its health impacts on women, children and Indigenous communities. And it’s an investment in massive cost overruns, at the expense of proven renewable solutions we have to achieve our climate law.”

“With a climate change denier headed to the Oval Office, Governor Hochul must work with a new urgency to rapidly scale proven and safe renewable energy in New York State, with no time to waste on distractions like too-slow nuclear power,” said Bob Cohen, Policy and Research Director for Citizen Action of New York. “New York can be a climate leader with proven and safe renewables like solar, wind, and geothermal; but, to do so, Governor Hochul cannot fall for ultra-expensive, dangerous, and unproven promises of new nuclear facilities in our state.”

Ellen Weininger, Director of Educational Outreach at Grassroots Environmental Education said, “We are calling on Governor Hochul to stop chasing down false solutions and squandering New Yorkers’ time and money considering nuclear energy. It is an exorbitant and inherently dangerous technology which relies heavily on taxpayer subsidies, generates toxic radioactive waste that lasts for thousands of years, poses serious public health and environmental risks, and severely overburdens environmental justice communities that have been long standing sacrifice zones in close proximity to existing nuclear reactors, uranium mines, enrichment sites and nuclear waste dumps. The Draft Blueprint disregards any consideration of the harmful exposures to known carcinogens, teratogens and mutagens associated with the entire nuclear life cycle and fails to address the CLCPA requirement that all state agencies ‘shall not disproportionately burden disadvantaged communities.’ Wasteful investments in slow-to-build nuclear facilities significantly impede investments in the urgently needed rapid and cost-efficient transition to proven renewable energy solutions that work now, and will allow New York to meet its CLCPA goals without endangering the health and safety of its residents.”

“When New York passed our nation-leading climate law in 2019, we made a promise to protect each other and our future,” said Avni Pravin, Deputy Director, Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE). “With a climate denier entering the White House, it’s more important than ever that Governor Hochul keep New York’s promise by committing to safe, proven, and scalable renewable technologies like wind and solar–not break it by forcing New Yorkers to fund nuclear corporations who will only waste our time, waste our money, and create toxic waste that threatens our health.”

“For more than half a century since I was a student at RPI, I have pushed back against the false claims that have constantly been repackaged by corporate hucksters about the benefits of nuclear power. As environmental scientist Barry Commoner pointed out, it is possible to use nuclear power to boil water and make electricity, but it makes as much sense as using a chainsaw to cut butter. With the United Nations warning that slow action by governments to stop burning fossil fuels has already opened up the Gates of Hell, building new nuclear plants would come online long after we will have lost the climate fight. There are far cheaper and safer alternatives with wind, water, solar and energy conservation that Hochul needs to accelerate if she truly believes that we are in a climate emergency,” said Mark Dunlea, coordinator of PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy) / 350Albany and chair of the Green Education and Legal Fund.

“Governor Hochul’s nuclear plans are a total misfire. It would cost New Yorkers billions of dollars in higher energy bills, while generating more and more radioactive pollution. It would put our energy future in the hands of an industry that has failed us for generations. New Yorkers have already bailed out the nuclear industry eight times since the 1970s. Last year alone, we paid $530 million to bail out old nuclear power plants–nearly thirty times more than on expanding renewable energy. The governor has to stop putting the greed of nuclear corporations ahead of everyone else, and do what the law requires: accelerate the transition to safe, affordable renewable energy,” said Tim Judson, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. 

“The Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, in accord with National Sierra Club Nuclear Policy, is firmly opposed to New York State pursuing nuclear power as a solution to meeting the mandated targets of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).  New York needs to focus on proven renewable energy technology that works now, and should not waste resources, time, and money chasing solutions which will not be ready in the timeframe of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). Nuclear power has long been proven to be too toxic, too dangerous, too expensive, and too slow to build to be a climate solution, not to mention being a source of perpetuating ongoing social and environmental injustice among indigenous and disadvantaged communities,” said Kate Bartholomew, Chair, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.