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NuScale Power Achieves Standard Design Approval from NRC for 77 MW SMR

LCG, May 30, 2025--NuScale Power Corporation (NuScale), a leading provider of advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology, yesterday announced that it has received design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its uprated 77 MW power modules. NuScale states that it remains the only SMR technology company with design approval from the NRC, and the company remains on track for deployment by 2030, with 50- and 77-MW SMR options.

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EIA Presents Analysis of California's Solar and Wind Power Curtailment Challenges

LCG, May 29, 2025--The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released an analysis yesterday showing that the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, is increasing its curtailment of the rapidly growing solar- and wind-powered generation facilities in order to balance electricity supply and demand, which is necessary to maintain a stable electric system.

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Industry News

AES Cuts California Power Production in Half

LCG, Nov. 30, 2000--AES Corp., under threat of a lawsuit by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, has cut by half the output of its California power plants, the company said yesterday after the possibility of the suit was reported.

AES owns three Los Angeles-area power plants it purchased from Southern California Edison Co. in response to the California electric restructuring law., the 1,602 megawatt Redondo Beach Steam Plant, the 1,017 megawatt Huntington Beach Steam Plant and the 2,097 megawatt Alamitos Steam Plant in Long Beach.

The Alamitos plant has already exceeded its annual allocation for emissions of oxides of nitrogen and the air quality district may sue the company, AES said earlier this week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Aaron Thomas, manager of AES Pacific, said the Huntington Beach and Redondo Beach plants were close to reaching their NOx allocations.

In a petition filed earlier this month, the air quality district said that the plants could operate beyond the limits of their NOx allocations if the California Independent System Operator declared a power emergency. The Cal-ISO declared more than 30 such emergencies this past summer, about 20 of them "Stage 2" emergencies under which the state's three investor-owned utilities were obliged to curtail power deliveries to customers with interruptible contracts.

Because of an insufficiency of new power plant construction, and an inability to import power in hoped-for quantities, the state suffered an electricity shortage all summer. Existing power plants were pushed to their limits to prevent rolling outages or even blackouts.

Because of the power situation in the state, power producers and utilities are being buffeted by three agencies: The California Energy Commission has been loath to override local "not in my backyard" sympathies in licensing new power plants. The Cal-ISO has all but demanded that owners of existing power plants run them whatever the cost in emissions. The South Coast Air Quality Management District is threatening lawsuits to enforce emissions restrictions.

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