Legislators call for SMR at Fort Drum
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.
Stefanik
Tenney
Energy independence: Fort Drum’s energy requirements are “about 60 megawatts of power,” according to the report. The site currently gets its electricity from the regular business/residential grid after the on-site biomass energy facility was closed last year, and it would prefer once again to be “energy independent.”
To fulfill this goal, U.S. Reps. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.) and Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) are urging army secretary Christine Wormuth to select Fort Drum as “the Army’s first choice” to host an SMR.
Making the case: In a joint letter to Wormuth, the legislators said that “placing an SMR at Fort Drum will provide secure, resilient, and independent power for the Northeast’s power projection platform and help to ensure the United States leads the global competition over nuclear energy technology.”
The following are among the points in Fort Drum’s favor for siting an SMR, according to Tenney and Stefanik:
- The Army already has ownership of the utilities and infrastructure at Fort Drum.
- An experienced, skilled workforce is already on-site, owing to the former biomass facility.
- The extreme weather in the region could offer valuable data for the SMR pilot program.
- The instillation has the support of the surrounding civilian community for hosting an SMR.
In June, the army announced it was soliciting proposals from advanced nuclear companies for microreactors that can be installed at military bases. The stated goal is to have two microreactors operational at military bases by 2030 that are capable of providing 100 percent of all critical loads.
