The oldest commercial nuclear reactor still running in the United States sits behind the fences at 348 Lake Road in Scriba, and Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez wants it splitting atoms until 2049. The company announced on June 26 that it has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license of Nine Mile Point Unit 1, a reactor that first sent power to the grid under Niagara Mohawk in 1969, for another 20 years past its current 2029 expiration.

The paperwork itself went in earlier. Constellation filed the subsequent license renewal application for Unit 1 on March 25, 2026, and followed it with a matching application for the R.E. Ginna plant in Wayne County on June 17. If the NRC approves both, every one of the four upstate reactors Constellation operates would be licensed into the late 2040s.

For Scriba, the license filing is only one lane of a three-lane story. The same lakeshore site is already the first nuclear plant in the country to make its own clean hydrogen. In May, a Constellation subsidiary won a $17.3 million federal award to start clearing the regulatory ground for a brand new reactor next door. And by the end of December, the New York Power Authority is due to finish the master plan that will decide where the state builds its first new nuclear capacity in a generation. Oswego County has spent a year raising its hand.

A 1969 machine with paperwork aimed at 2049

Nine Mile Point Unit 1 began commercial operation on December 1, 1969, which makes it the oldest commercial power reactor still operating in the United States, a distinction confirmed in CNY Central’s reporting from the plant on July 13. It is a boiling water reactor rated at 620 megawatts, according to the American Nuclear Society, a fraction of the 1,287 megawatt Unit 2 that joined it on the site in March 1988.

The NRC formally docketed the Unit 1 application this spring. A notice published in the Federal Register on April 29, 2026 states that the agency found the application acceptable for review under docket number 50-220 and docket ID NRC-2021-0082, covering renewed facility operating license DPR-63. The current renewed license expires August 22, 2029. The Federal Register notice set June 29, 2026 as the deadline for anyone seeking a hearing or petitioning to intervene in the proceeding.

Unit 2, a later-generation boiling water reactor, is already licensed through 2046, and Constellation owns it in an 82 to 18 percent split with the Long Island Power Authority. Together the two Scriba units can produce 1,907 megawatts, enough for more than 1.2 million homes by the company’s count. The neighboring James A. FitzPatrick plant, an 842 megawatt reactor Constellation also runs on the same stretch of Lake Ontario shoreline, shares the roughly 900 acre property.

Dominguez framed the renewals as a statewide play. “Constellation’s four upstate nuclear units provide nearly half of the state’s clean power, support thousands of family-sustaining jobs and generate millions in local tax revenue,” he said in the June 26 announcement. Public broadcaster WXXI put the fleet’s share at about 21 percent of all electricity generated in New York and roughly 40 percent of its zero-emission power.

The money the company says is on the table

Constellation attached big numbers to the filings: $50 billion in projected ratepayer savings, a $38 billion contribution to New York’s economy, $10 billion in preserved tax revenue by 2050, and 14,000 local jobs sustained. Those are the company’s own projections, not independent analysis, and they assume the state keeps paying for the output. The zero-emission credit program that has subsidized upstate reactors since 2017 was extended by the state Public Service Commission to run through 2049, WXXI reported, which is exactly the horizon of the new license requests.

The local math is easier to check. Constellation says Nine Mile Point pays roughly $30.9 million a year in taxes that flow to schools, roads and services in Oswego County. And the plant earned its keep in 2025: trade publication Power Engineering reported the two Scriba units generated 13,965,000 megawatt hours last year at a 95.6 percent capacity factor, meaning they ran essentially flat out.

Labor is on board. Greg Lancette, an international representative for the United Association of union plumbers, fitters, welders and service techs, said in the company’s announcement that the plants “fuel thousands of good-paying, union jobs that support families, strengthen local economies.”

The hydrogen plant already humming inside the fence

Here is the part of the Scriba story that reads like a lab experiment. In February 2023, Nine Mile Point became the first nuclear power plant in the United States to produce clean hydrogen on site, using a 1 megawatt electrolyzer that splits water molecules with the reactor’s own electricity. The demonstration was a $14.5 million cost-shared project between the U.S. Department of Energy and Constellation.

The hydrogen is not shipped anywhere exotic. It cools the plant’s own generators, replacing hydrogen that used to arrive by truck from fossil fuel producers. “This accomplishment tangibly demonstrates that our nation’s existing reactor fleet can produce clean hydrogen today,” Dr. Kathryn Huff, then the DOE’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said when production started. Nine Mile Point was one of four hydrogen demonstrations DOE backed at commercial plants nationwide, and the only one that got there first.

$17.3 million to clear the ground for a new reactor

The freshest money arrived this spring. On May 14, 2026, the Department of Energy awarded more than $94 million to eight companies under its Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor Pathway to Deployment program. Constellation SMR Development, LLC received $17,264,292 of it to pursue an NRC early site permit for a New York location, and the company has said that work centers on Nine Mile Point. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is adding up to $12.5 million more, the Watertown Daily Times reported, bringing the siting war chest to nearly $30 million.

An early site permit is the quiet, unglamorous step that makes everything later go faster. It asks the NRC to approve a location’s safety case, environmental review and emergency planning before anyone commits to a specific reactor design. Once granted, a permit stays valid for 10 to 20 years, according to the trade outlet Neutron Bytes, which reported the NRC review typically takes about 18 months after an application is accepted. In practice, it means Scriba could hold a pre-approved parking spot for whatever reactor New York eventually buys.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright pitched the program in national terms: “Advanced light-water SMRs will give our nation the reliable, round-the-clock power we need to fuel the President’s manufacturing boom.” Only one award in the country was larger than Constellation’s, the $27,864,860 that went to Nebraska Public Power District for its own early site permit.

Albany’s clock runs out in December

The state side of the race started in June 2025, when Governor Kathy Hochul directed NYPA to develop at least 1 gigawatt of zero-emission advanced nuclear power upstate. In her January 2026 State of the State address she raised the target to 5 gigawatts, a plan branded the Nuclear Reliability Backbone, which Utility Dive reported would push New York’s total nuclear capacity above 8 gigawatts if built.

Interest has been loud. NYPA said on January 7, 2026 that its requests for information drew 23 responses from developers and partners and eight from would-be host communities: Broome, Jefferson, Oswego, Schuyler, St. Lawrence and Wayne counties, plus the city of Dunkirk and the RED-Rochester industrial site. On June 1, NYPA issued a formal request for qualifications for developers, committed $40 million over four years to nuclear workforce training, and said its master plan should conclude by the end of 2026. “Nearly a year ago, I called on the Power Authority to lay the groundwork for the next era of emissions-free power in New York,” Hochul said in that announcement.

Oswego County moved before almost anyone. The county Legislature passed a resolution on June 23, 2025 backing a new advanced nuclear plant at Nine Mile Point, noting the three existing reactors already produce about half of the state’s zero-emission electricity and sit less than 30 miles from Micron’s planned megafab in Clay. “Oswego County has a long history of hosting nuclear power stations and is uniquely positioned as the best region for the state to develop new nuclear projects,” Legislature Chairman James Weatherup said in the county’s announcement. County Administrator Philip Church pointed to the state’s Climate Act mandate for 100 percent zero-emission electricity by 2040.

Austin Wheelock, executive director of Operation Oswego County, the county’s economic development arm, put the local odds bluntly to the Palladium-Times in June: “We feel pretty confident Oswego is the viable location.” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay of Pulaski went further at a summer forum on the project: “No community is better prepared to help New York meet its growing energy demand than Oswego County.”

Constellation is not being coy either. “Nine Mile Point, we believe, is the perfect site to add New York’s first gigawatt of new nuclear power because we have the land,” senior communications manager Mark Rogers told CNY Central on July 13, adding that “even when the sun’s not shining, the wind’s not blowing, you’ve got nuclear power really helping ensure that the electric grid is reliable.” Morgan Calamano, an emergency response team engineer at the plant, told the station the site’s veteran workforce is its own asset: “There’s a lot of knowledge at the plant that we can turn to.”

What happens next

Three tracks now run in parallel. The NRC’s technical review of the Unit 1 renewal is underway, with the hearing window having closed June 29. The early site permit application is being assembled with the DOE and NYSERDA money. And NYPA’s siting decision has a stated deadline that is now less than six months away.

None of it is guaranteed. License renewals of this vintage draw scrutiny precisely because no American reactor has yet operated to 80 years, which is what 2049 would mean for a 1969 machine. But the direction of travel is unambiguous, and it runs through one town of about 6,800 people on the Lake Ontario shore. NYPA’s nuclear master plan is due by the end of December 2026. Unit 1’s current license runs out August 22, 2029. Somewhere between those two dates, Scriba learns whether it keeps America’s oldest reactor, gains its newest, or both.

Sources & Verification

Constellation Energy, “Constellation Seeks License Renewals for Two New York Units Through 2049,” press release, June 26, 2026, constellationenergy.com. Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 82, NRC docketing notice for Nine Mile Point Unit 1 subsequent license renewal, April 29, 2026, federalregister.gov (docket ID NRC-2021-0082). Palladium-Times via oswegocountynewsnow.com, “Constellation looks to renew Nine Mile through 2049,” June 27, 2026. Power Engineering, “Constellation files to extend the life of two upstate New York nuclear plants,” July 6, 2026, power-eng.com. U.S. Department of Energy, “Energy Department Awards $94 Million to American Companies to Help Expedite the Deployments of Small Modular Reactors in the United States,” May 14, 2026, energy.gov. U.S. Department of Energy, “Nine Mile Point Begins Clean Hydrogen Production,” March 7, 2023, energy.gov. American Nuclear Society, Nuclear Newswire, “Constellation starts hydrogen production at Nine Mile Point,” March 10, 2023, ans.org. New York Power Authority, press releases of January 7, 2026 and June 1, 2026, nypa.gov. Oswego County, “Oswego County Supports New Advanced Nuclear Plant at Nine Mile Point,” June 23, 2025, oswegocountyny.gov. WXXI News, “Constellation pursuing extension of the Ginna nuclear plant’s operating license,” June 26, 2026, wxxinews.org. CNY Central, “Nine Mile Point draws focus as Gov. Hochul pushes new nuclear generation,” July 13, 2026, cnycentral.com. Utility Dive, “New York Gov. Hochul expands nuclear aspirations to 8-GW fleet,” utilitydive.com. Watertown Daily Times via nny360.com on NYSERDA cost share. Neutron Bytes, “Constellation Seeks Early Site Permit at Oswego, NY,” May 24, 2026. Constellation Energy, Nine Mile Point Clean Energy Center location page, constellationenergy.com. Wikipedia, Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station (unit history, ownership). NY State Senate, press release, Sen. Christopher Ryan, 2026 nuclear forum, nysenate.gov. Reporter: Mike Rivera. Edited by: Frank Mahoney. Published: July 16, 2026.