Wanted: Nuclear energy czar.
Salary between $258,000 and $300,000.
Responsibilities include “spearheading and executing the company’s strategy for growth in the nuclear energy sector” and developing new generation projects. Experience with advanced nuclear reactors a plus. Minimum 10 years in the nuclear energy industry required.
If interested, call the New York Power Authority.
NYPA, the largest public utility in the nation, is getting back into the nuclear power game. And it’s willing to pony up more than Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $260,000-a-year salary to find the right person.
The job posting for a senior vice president for Nuclear Development dovetailed with the governor’s announcement in June that she’d tapped NYPA to develop a next-generation nuclear power plant in upstate New York to power some of the energy-intensive data centers and factories with plans to establish footprints in the region.
The move represents a pivot for a state that under Gov. Andrew Cuomo negotiated the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan in Westchester County, downstate’s lone nuclear-generation facility and once the source of about 25% of the region’s electricity.
Hochul goes all-in on nuclear
Hochul’s tasked NYPA with building a 1-gigawatt reactor in upstate New York, enough to power around 1 million homes.
In an op-Ed published in the USA Today Network last week, Hochul writes: “If we want to power the economy of the future, we need a clean, reliable, around-the-clock source of electricity. Advanced nuclear power can deliver that.”
The move faces resistance from left-leaning groups who think the state should be spending its time adding more solar and wind power to the grid rather than chasing advanced nuclear options, some of which are not ready for the wholesale energy market.
Rapidly scaling up the buildout of affordable public renewables is the only way to meet the state’s science-based climate goals and lower energy bills, said Alex Patterson, the New York campaign coordinator for Public Power New York, activists and union leaders pressing NYPA to be more aggressive in carrying out the state’s climate goals.
“Hochul’s decision to pursue costly and slow to build nuclear energy based on promises from Donald Trump shows just how unserious she is about New Yorker’s energy bills and climate future,” Patterson said.
NYPA operates three hydroelectric plants upstate but it has a deep history with nuclear power that dates back 50 years.
In the late 1960’s, prodded by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, it built a nuclear power plant in Oswego on the shores of Lake Ontario. The James A. FitzPatrick plant takes its name from a former NYPA president and is one of three nuclear plants upstate. It’s owned by Constellation Energy.
And NYPA built and operated Indian Point’s Unit 3 reactor before selling it to Louisiana-based Entergy in 2000. The plant shut down in 2021.
Pro-nuclear groups are cheering NYPA’s reentry into the nuclear power sphere.
“NYPA has decades of experience with large energy projects and even operated nuclear plants in the past,” said Dietmar Detering, the chairman of Nuclear New York. NYPA won’t go it alone, he added —there are many opportunities to involve private developers, technology vendors, and even operators.
“NYPA’s role is to break the ice and bring serious, public-sector credibility to the table,” he said.
NYPA says the job posting has already generated significant interest.
“We’re moving forward quickly and have already received dozens of applications from battle-tested leaders interested in the Senior Vice President of Nuclear Development role,” said NYPA spokeswoman Lindsay Kryzak. “This person will have the experience to help us meet this historic challenge to shape and drive NYPA’s nuclear strategy with a clear-eyed focus on safety, innovation, and long-term value for the people of New York.”
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Nuclear energy czar wanted in NY. They’d make more than Gov. Hochul herself
Reporting by Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
