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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

Nukes Produce Power Cheaper than Coal, Study Shows

LCG, Jan. 9, 2001It has finally become less expensive to produce electricity in nuclear power plants than in coal-fired plants, or any others, according to the latest available full-year figures from the Utility Data Institute.

The Utility Data Institute is a division of McGraw-Hill. Its data are taken directly from Form 1 filings that utilities are required to make each year with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Price spikes that occurred in oil and natural gas in 1999 are not reflected in the figures compiled for last year.

In 1999, production costs, which consist of outlays for fuel and operations and maintenance, at nuclear power plants averaged 1.83 cents per kilowatt-hour, lower than coal at 2.07 cents and still far lower than oil-fired plants at 3.18 cents and natural gas plants at 3.52 cents, the Institute reports.

"At a time when the eyes of the nation are on energy prices, nuclear power's re-emergence as thelow production-cost leader is a reminder that the United States needs a diverse energy portfolio thatrelies in no small part on nuclear energy," said Marvin Fertel, a senior vice president of the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Fertel conceded that production costs do not represent the complete cost of electricity at nuclear power plants or any other power plant, but low production costs position nuclear facilities to thrive in a competitive electricity marketplace even after capital costs, property taxes and other expenses are added.

"Assuming electricity markets average between 2.5 and 3 cents per kilowatt-hour on a total costbasis, U.S. nuclear power plants already are very competitive," Fertel said. "They are operating atrecord levels of safety and reliability. They are stabilizing the electrical grid and helping to avertbrownouts and blackouts. And they are doing so economically and without emitting any pollutantsinto the atmosphere. Consumers, the environment and our nation's economy are all the better for it."

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