Wayne County reflects on job growth from nuclear power
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Nuclear power is a low-carbon source of energy that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week at power plants across the country.
“It’s that reliability of electricity,” Wayne County Administrator Mark Humbert explained. “Nuclear is going 24 hours a day. It doesn’t stop. I know the power plants along the lake are responsible for at least 20% of the electricity produced in New York state. That’s for the whole state. So that’s huge. In terms of locally though, that’s where the jobs are important.”
What You Need To Know
- Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, owned by Constellation, currently provides nearly 400 jobs to the small community of Wayne County
- Constellation owns three nuclear facilities across the state, employing roughly 1,700 people total
- Nuclear facilities can provide a wide variety of well-paying jobs, like mechanics, engineers, maintenance, management positions, and more
- Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a new nuclear facility will be built upstate last week, that would provide 1,600 jobs during its construction period, and another 1,200 permanent positions after that
- Wayne County officials compare nuclear power plants to the Erie Canal because of its foundation to bring more job opportunities to New York
Nuclear has brought hundreds of jobs to Wayne County since the power plant, Ginna, came to town in the 1960s. Today, nearly 400 people are employed there from manufacturing, maintenance, mechanics, engineers and even management workers.
“There will be the spectrum of jobs, skill levels [and] education levels. It covers a broad sector of those who want to be employed,” Humbert said. “When you have at least 500 jobs in every nuclear plant, that’s a lot of jobs and it’s a wide range of jobs. And so, there’s people making decent money and able to live in and have their kids in school and other things here in Wayne County. So that’s a big deal to us.”
And it’s a big deal to many New Yorkers looking at the potential economic benefits since Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week that a new nuclear power plant will be built in upstate New York. It’s expected to bring 1,600 jobs during its construction period alone, plus another 1,200 permanent places of employment after that. That would almost match the current number of workers that Ginna’s owner’s, Constellation, employ throughout its three plants across the state.
In a statement, the company says that “Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of clean energy, applauds Governor Kathy Hochul’s announcement of New York’s solicitation to add one gigawatt of nuclear energy to the state’s power grid.
“New York has already demonstrated leadership in supporting the continued operation of Constellation’s three upstate nuclear facilities, which produce more than 20% of New York’s electricity, account for nearly half the state’s clean electricity, power millions of households and businesses and employ more than 1,700 full-time employees in family-sustaining jobs.”
“The plants themselves are great producers of jobs, but what they can fuel and what can be done because we have those plants, it’s exponentially better. Because if we didn’t have them, we couldn’t have the Microns. We couldn’t have the other companies,” Humbert said.
He adds that reliable jobs help bring people to the community. As history has proven with the Erie Canal. When it was created 200 years ago, it brought hundreds of jobs that are still making an impact to New Yorkers every day. He hopes that nuclear is the foundation to the future of New York’s job opportunity and growth.
“I’m very thankful that the governor sees the nuclear as a key component to a long-term energy plan for New York,” he said. “And that’s just so critical. In my job, in the job she’s in [and] other elected officials are in. Our job is to make sure we come up with the right solutions for your generation to be successful. Somebody did that for us 40 years ago, 50 years ago. So our job now is to make sure it’s there for your generation.”