North Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - One North Tonawanda resident opposed to a crypto mining facility on Erie Avenue says she's even more concerned now that the company has reached a partnership agreement with a nuclear energy company.
Darlene Bolsover tells WBEN residents have already had to deal with noise from Digihost over the past couple of years, but now, Digihost has a deal with NANO Nuclear Energy.
"I don't know enough about what form they're putting in, what they're actually proposing to build there, but when I think of what history has proven to us with this type of nuclear reactors, it doesn't sound like I want it in my backyard,'" said Bolsover in an interview with WBEN.
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One of Bolsover's biggest concerns is with containment.
"What is the actual containment? What are they? Where are they putting it? How are they going to put it? Anytime you put nuclear in any area, you have to have forms of containment," Bolsover asked.
As a nurse, when Bolsover walks into an X-ray department, she's going to be behind extreme containment so that others aren't getting sick.
Bolsover says when Digihost brought in the crypto originally, they made promises to residents and as a city.
"They failed on those promises, and now they want to bring in something that potentially can extend my vision, is explosion. If this reactor, which any reactor, could explode, if it exploded, how much damage would this do and how, how much fallout would it have?" Bolsover pondered.
She says the North Tonawanda Common Council can shut down conversation about the partnership rather quickly.
"This is not something that we are zoned for," Bolsover explained. "This is not something that this city has any issues of having potential to have in our city limits. Our Council could shut this down immediately so that there is no potential discussions."
Last July, North Tonawanda approved a two-year moratorium on crypto mining facilities. The Digihost plant won't be affected by the ban, but it will not be able to expand its operations.