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Duke Energy Submits Early Site Permit Application to NRC for New Nuclear Reactors in North Carolina

LCG, December 30, 2025--Duke Energy announced today its submission of an early site permit (ESP) application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The site is near the Belews Creek Steam Station in Stokes County, North Carolina. The submittal follows two years of work at the site, and the announcement states that the submittal is part of Duke Energy's strategic, on-going commitment to evaluate new nuclear generation options to reliably meet the growing electricity needs of its customers while reducing costs and risks.

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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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Industry News

Continued Solvency of TVA Questioned in Report

LCG, Nov. 25, 2003--Two accounting professors with experience in utility analysis have completed a study in which they say that the Tennessee Valley Authority, the government-owned utility, will find it difficult to avoid bankruptcy or the need for a federal bailout.

Dr. Paul MacAvoy, a management professor with Yale University, and Dr. Dennis Logue, the dean of the Oklahoma University School of Business, say that the inflated book value of nuclear plant assets is allowing the TVA to state a positive net worth. If those assets were written down to reflect their true economic worth however, or if the TVA should fare poorly after losing its monopoly status, the report concludes, the utility would find it unable to service its $25 billion debt load as its creditworthiness was downgraded.

MacAvoy told the Chattanooga Times/Free Press in an interview that "some of TVA's accounting is like what Enron did before its bankruptcy." MacAvoy and Logue warned correctly that nuclear plant projects begun by the Washington Public Power Supply System, and which were abandoned in the 1980s, pointed the way to a default.

Currently the debt of TVA is graded AAA by Standard & Poor's, and Aaa by Moody's Investors Service, which takes the TVA's government-owned status into account in assigning a high credit rating. Scott Taylor, with Standard & Poor's said that although the utility "is in a highly leveraged position ... it certainly is not in any dire straits." TVA is able to adjust its rates without regulatory approval. Dr. Logue cited a possible increase in interest rates and competition from other utilities as factors that could result in serious harm.
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