New York State governor Kathy Hochul has unveiled an ambitious new nuclear power initiative that would add 4 GW of new nuclear energy to existing capacity in the state, and on top of recently announced plans for a new 1 GW plant.

The Nuclear Reliability Backbone initiative would add 5 GW of capacity to the state’s existing 3.4 GW, creating a total of 8.4 GW.

The announcement was made during Hochul’s ‘State of the State’ address in Albany, New York on 13 January and has the objective of creating reliable power for industry and homes and meeting growing electricity demands from data centres.