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Matrix Renewables Announces the Commissioning of Pleasant Valley Solar 1

LCG, April 15, 2025--Matrix Renewables announced today the successful commissioning of the Pleasant Valley Solar 1 power generation facility in Ada County, Idaho. The 200-MWac solar facility includes a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that was secured through negotiation with Meta and Idaho Power. Matrix Renewables states the facility is the largest operational solar facility in Idaho Power's system. Sundt Renewables, the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) services provider, completed construction of the project on March 2nd.

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Duke Energy Seeks to Extend Operating License for Robinson Nuclear Plant

LCG, April 9, 2025--Duke Energy announced yesterday its submission of a subsequent license renewal (SLR) application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the Robinson Nuclear Plant, a 759-MW nuclear unit located near Hartsville, South Carolina. The application requests extending the plant's operations for an additional 20 years.

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Industry News

B&W Wins DOE's Small Modular Reactor Support Program

LCG, November 21, 2012--The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) announced yesterday that it was selected as the winner of the U.S. Department of Energy?s (DOE) competitively bid Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Licensing Technical Support Program. The DOE also announced it will be issuing another solicitation to further SMR advancements.

As the winner of the DOE's March 2012 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), B&W will receive DOE funding to support the development of B&W's mPower SMR technology. According to the DOE, the DOE will invest up to half of the total project cost, with the project?s industry partners matching the investment by at least one-to-one. The specific total will be negotiated between the DOE and B&W.

The DOE stated, ?As this nascent industry continues to grow, the Energy Department is committed to supporting research and development that will advance efficient, safe and cost-effective small modular reactor technologies. The Department plans to issue a new funding opportunity announcement to address this goal and support continued design development and certification of innovative SMR technologies."

B&W?s mPower technology is based upon a 180-MW, pressurized water reactor design that uses a fully underground containment structure. Other contenders were Westinghouse?s 225 MW SMR; NuScale Power, with a 540 MW plant that includes twelve mini-reactors; and Holtec's 140-MW design.

In contrast to reactors in the approval process now with capacities of 1,000 MW or more, the SMR offers a lower project cost due to its smaller size and because roughly 70 percent of the reactor and its systems are contained within the unit and built in the factory. Moreover, the smaller size provide the potential to deploy the SMRs at aging coal-fired power plant sites, where coal-fired units are approaching retirement, and remaining utility infrastructure may be of value in developing the SMR.

In pursuing the DOE funding, B&W teamed with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Bechtel. TVA is developing an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to license up to four B&W mPower SMRs at its Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

TVA's Senior Vice President of Policy and Oversight stated, ?TVA is pleased that the mPower America Team has been selected by the DOE to receive cost-share funding for the design and licensing of a small modular reactor. It supports TVA's mission of being a national leader in technological innovation and may provide a new source of clean, base-load generation capacity in the future.?

In addition, last July B&W and FirstEnergy Corp. announced that FirstEnergy and a B&W subsidiary, Generation mPower LLC (GmP), executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding studies to develop small modular reactors in FirstEnergy's service territory, which includes regions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.
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