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The NRC Issues Summary of 2025 Successes

LCG, December 29, 2025--The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today issued a summary of its 2025 accomplishments to highlight its commitment to "enabling the safe and secure use of civilian nuclear energy and radioactive materials through efficient and reliable licensing, oversight, and regulation to benefit society and the environment."

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Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Orders to Ensure Indiana Coal-fired Facilities Remain Open to Prevent Midwest Blackouts

LCG, December 24, 2025--The U.S. Secretary of Energy today issued emergency orders to keep two Indiana coal plants operational, with the stated goal to ensure Americans in the Midwest region of the United States have access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity heading into the winter months. The orders direct CenterPoint Energy, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) to take all measures necessary to ensure specified generation units at both the F.B. Culley and R.M. Schahfer generating stations in Indiana are available to operate.

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Industry News

FERC Forced to Release Report on Williams and AES Communications

LCG, Nov. 15, 2002--Conversations transcribed in a Federal Energy Regualtory Commission report detail what appears to have been an agreement to keep a Southern California power plant from providing power, which allowed Williams to sell power at a higher-than-expected price to the California Independent System Operator.

Williams had hoped to avoid the release of the FERC report, which FERC had earlier warned it would release unless the company agreed to erase $8 million in charges to the CAISO, which contested them as unwarranted. Although Williams agreed not to pursue the charges, a public-records lawsuit brought by The Wall Street Journal against the FERC compelled the report's release. Representatives for Williams and AES responded to the report by characterizing their communications in May 2000 as well-known and not deserving of attention. Williams settled a lawsuit brought by California this week, rewriting long-term contracts with the state to avoid further legal action.

The conversations between the companies concerned the AES Alamitos plant, from which Williams was buying and marketing power. Any power that could not be delivered as planned would and did bring a price of $750 per megawatt-hour, rather than the price of $63 in the schedule. In this case, units within the same plant provided power because the units specified in the schedule were on outage for maintenance. The additional cost to the CAISO over a fifteen-day period was estimated at $10 million.

Rhonda Morgan of Williams was quoted as saying to an AES employee at the plant, "it wouldn't hurt Williams' feelings if the outage ran long." The president of Williams Energy Marketing & Trading, Bill Hobbs, said that the release of the information against the wishes of FERC "doesn't add anything to the dialogue...", and said that AES received no compensation based on the communications.
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