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NRC Renews Operating Licenses for Constellation's Nuclear Reactors at Clinton and Dresden Facilities

LCG, December 16, 2025--The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced today that it has renewed the operating licenses of Constellation LLC’s Clinton Unit 1 in Clinton, Illinois, and Dresden Units 2 and 3, near Morris, Illinois, for an additional 20 years beyond the current expiration dates. The combined capacity of these three, Illinois-based nuclear units is 2,925 MW, and the operating license extension will enable the units to generate carbon-free power through about 2050.

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ERCOT Announces Organizational Changes to Promote Grid Reliability, Rapid Demand Growth, and Innovation

LCG, December 12, 2025--Today, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) announced strategic organizational changes designed to accelerate innovation, strengthen grid reliability, and support the unprecedented growth in the demand for electricity across Texas. To meet these objectives, ERCOT created two new organizations: Interconnection and Grid Analysis, and Enterprise Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The two organizations will formally launch in January 2026.

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Industry News

PG&E Told to Defend Legality of Reorg Plan

LCG, Dec. 5, 2001--U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali yesterday told Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that it would have to defend the legality of its reorganization plan at a January 25 hearing on the co-called "preemption issue" raised by state regulators.

PG&E's plan to emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy relies in large part on Montali's willingness to preempt state regulations that limit a utility's right to sell power plants and other assets. While the company has not suggested that it wants to sell its remaining power plants, it does want to transfer them into a non-regulated subsidiary of its parent holding company PG&E Corp.

The California Public Utilities Commission had asked for a separate trial on the issue, but Montali rejected the request. Even so, Gary Cohen, general counsel for the CPUC, said "Overall, I'm pleased with what happened today."

PG&E was also pleased. Oscar Cantu, a lawyer for the utility, said the judge's ruling had put the monkey on the CPU's back. "It's their burden to show there is no set of circumstances" under which the reorganization plan could be found legal by the court, he said.

There are a number of laws with which the PG&E plan may be in conflict, most notably legislation passed just three months before the utility filed for Chapter 11 protection, that prohibits any transfer of a utility's generating assets until 2006.

Lawyers for the CPUC have been hesitant to insist on enforcement of some of these laws lest they might compromise the state's sovereign immunity and trigger a federal review of the state laws.

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