Produced by Nuclear New York, Generation Atomic, the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, and Cornell NiCE (Nuclear is Clean Energy), the Nuclear Symposium builds on New York’s push for a clean energy future and on delivering clean, safe, reliable, and affordable power at scale across the nation.
Day 1 focused on New York and the Northeast, bridging the gap between communities and governments, developers, and utilities that have long shaped the energy landscape. Day 2 opened critical discussions on workforce development, new infrastructure, and nuclear energy at a time of growing demand and pressure on affordability.
Kirsty Gogan, Founding Director & Co-CEO of Terra Praxis, joined the panel: Innovations for Nuclear Bankability on Day 2 to discuss innovations in delivery, financing, government support, and new capital stack architectures that turn nuclear designs into bankable projects delivered at scale.
Kirsty shared how bankability starts with delivery. It's the delivery model, not the reactor technology, that determines whether new nuclear gets built on time and on budget. Where nuclear has been a one-off project on an incomplete design, it's run 5–13 years late and 2–4× over budget. Cost and schedule are reduced and more certain when nuclear energy is delivered as a standardized, repeat-build program.
Terra Praxis’ REPOWER New York study makes the following recommendations:
· Procure as a repeat-build program. Start with a proven, standardized design first, with shipyard and factory delivery phased in as it proves out.
· Preserve retired fossil sites now. Their switchyards, cooling-water rights, and interconnection capacity are the cheapest, fastest path to new nuclear, but that option disappears the moment a site is demolished.
· Build informed-buyer capability before final investment decision (FID). That means an in-house should-cost estimate, one accountable delivery organization on the developer side, and incentives written into the contract itself.
· Tie state support to delivery performance. Credits, guarantees, and equity contingent on the practices that reduce cost, not just shift risk around.
Speakers included:
● Rory M. Christian, Chair and CEO, New York State Public Service Commission
● Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
● Justin Driscoll, President & CEO, New York Power Authority
● Bradley R. Crowell, Commissioner, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
● Richard Dewey, President & CEO, NYISO
● Julie Kozeracki, Acting Chief Investment Officer, Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF)
● Lukas Savickas, Minister of Energy, Republic of Lithuania
● Elina Teplinsky, Nuclear Energy Partner and Energy Industry Leader, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
● Emma Rebhorn, Commissioner, NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU)
● Rita C. Meyer, CEO, Wyoming Energy Futures, LLC
● Malcolm Harris, VP Business Development, Deployable Energy
● Jake Jurewicz, CEO & Co-Founder, Blue Energy
● Randy Wolken, President & CEO, MACNY, The Manufacturers Association
● Ekin Senlet, Partner, Regulatory and Energy Practice, Barclay Damon LLP
● Andrew Shaw, Partner, Bracewell LLP
● Marshall Weir, Chief Executive Officer, Jefferson County Economic Development
● Mark R. Geise, Chief Executive Officer, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development, County of Chautauqua [City of Dunkirk]
● Austin M. Wheelock, CEcD, Executive Director, Operation Oswego County
● Bob Ahlfeld, Business Development Specialist, St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency
● Brian Pincelli, Director of Economic Development and Planning, Wayne County
● Matthew A. Eldred, Partner, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP [Schuyler County]
● Adrienne Himmelberger, Senior Manager, Power & Utilities, Deloitte
● Assil Halimi, Ph.D., Co-Founder & CEO, Apollo Atomics
● Kirsty Gogan, Founding Director and Co-CEO, Terra Praxis
● Erich Scherer, Director of Strategy, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
● Charles Imohiosen, Senior Vice President, Communications and External Affairs, New York Power Authority
● Adam Stein, Ph.D., Director, Nuclear Energy Innovation program, Breakthrough Institute
● Ashley Finan, Global Fellow, Senior Fellow, Columbia CGEP /Nuclear Innovation Alliance
● Richard Stedman, Interim Director, Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment, Cornell University
● Madison Hilly, Managing Director, Radiant Energy Group (REG)
● Esther Rosario, Executive Director, Director of Policy, Climate Jobs NY, Building and Construction Trades Council
● Alexander C. Kaufman, Reporter, Heatmap News
● Jeffrey R. Bohn, Ph.D., Director Energy Economics, Anthropocene Institute
● Rachel Phillips, Senior Vice President of Impact & Innovation, Team Pennsylvania
● Carl Perez, Founder & CEO, Exodys Energy
● Hunter Dare, Head of Finance and Capital Markets, Oppenheimer Energy
● Kristin Zaitz, Co-Founder, Civil Engineer, Mothers for Nuclear, Diablo Canyon Power Plant
● Philip Hult, Development Manager, Generation Atomic
● Isuru Seneviratne, Director, LucidCatalyst
● Dietmar Detering, Chair, Nuclear New York
Watch some Symposium highlights.
Terra Praxis previously helped host Nuclear Symposium 2024: Uplifting Humanity (September 5, 2024, alongside REPOWER Consortium partners Anthropocene Institute, Holtec International, and Constellation Energy, among others.