Indian Point’s reactors in downstate New York are shut down.  But Holtec, the current owner in charge of decommissioning it, soon going public and issuing an initial public offering, has proposed renuclearizing the site to boost its perceived value.  This would entail misusing Holtec’s current licenses to install and operate small modular reactors on it to power a data center, and/or to restart Indian Point’s shuttered reactors, as Holtec is doing at other nuclear sites it owns.  While Governor Hochul issued a statement saying New York State does not support renuclearizing Indian Point, that hasn’t stopped nuclear booster groups from pushing for it and spreading misinformation about the feasibility and impacts of doing so. (See Mark Jacobson video)

Meanwhile, Governor Hochul strongly supports expanding nuclear in upstate New York. She arranged a $33 billion ratepayer subsidy to keep four aging reactors in Oswego and Wayne Counties, already well beyond their designed lifespan (including the oldest and second oldest reactors in the US) operating for another 20 years.  She has championed building one or more new nuclear power facilities in upstate New York, and recently signed an agreement with Ontario Power Generation to develop SMRs in New York.