In June of last year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called on the New York Power Authority—the state's public power utility—to add at least 1 GW of new capacity to the electrical grid through the construction of an advanced nuclear power plant in upstate New York to support the state’s decarbonization goals.

It was good news for the nuclear community, to be sure, but in Hochul's State of the State address in Albany earlier this week, she made that objective sound almost unambitious.

Eight communities and 23 companies, including reactor developers, construction firms, and utilities, have expressed interest in participating in New York state’s plan to develop at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear power in the upstate area. The communities and companies are responding to solicitations from the New York Power Authority for developers and partners who want to support the agency’s advanced nuclear power projects and are able to provide viable project concepts, as well as for communities to host nuclear facilities and backers that could support such projects.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state officials met in August with officials at the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum in upstate New York to discuss deployment of a small modular reactor to supply the installation’s energy needs. According to local CBS affiliate WWNY, two congresspersons have called on the secretary of the army to place an SMR at Fort Drum, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that an SMR would be “the optimal option” for the site’s energy purposes.