EnergyOnline
Services

RSS FEED

EnergyOnline.com rss

News

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.

Read more

RWE and Indiana Michigan Power Company Sign Long-term PPA for 200 MW Wind Project

LCG, December 18, 2025--RWE and Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M), an American Electric Power (AEP) company, today announced their partnering to provide new wind power generation capacity online to meet Indiana’s growing electricity demand. The companies signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the total output from RWE’s 200 MW Prairie Creek wind project in Blackford County, Indiana. I&M will purchase electricity from the wind project, which will further diversify its portfolio and be consistent with its all-of-the-above strategy to secure generation for its rapidly growing electricity demand.

Read more

Industry News

X-energy Commences First Irradiation Tests of Advanced TRISO-X Nuclear Fuel at Idaho National Laboratory

LCG, November 6, 2025--X-energy Reactor Company, LLC, (X-energy) and the U.S. Office of Nuclear Energy today announced the start of confirmatory irradiation testing at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to qualify X-energy’s proprietary TRISO-X fuel pebbles for commercial use in the Xe-100 Small Modular Reactor (SMR). (TRISO stands for TRi-structural ISOtropic). This is the first time that TRISO-X fuel pebbles will undergo irradiation testing in a U.S. lab, which is a critical step in meeting requirements set forth by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the commercial deployment of advanced reactors that will use the fuel.

For X-energy, the testing is part of X-energy's larger efforts to establish the country’s first commercial advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility to support the deployment of their SMR design, the Xe-100. X-energy’s initial SMR deployment is planned to provide power and process heat to Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations Center on the Texas Gulf Coast. The nuclear project, the Long Mott Generating Station project, will include four Xe-100 SMRs, which are high-temperature, gas-cooled SMRs powered by TRISO particle fuel. X-energy's SMR can produce 80 MW of electric output or 200 MW of process heat and is designed to operate for 60 years. Four reactors are planned at the Long Mott Generating Station to replace aging steam and power assets that are approaching end-of-life. The project is part of a demonstration project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and, if approved, would be the first advanced nuclear facility at an industrial site in the United States.

X-energy, the DOE and National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) will collaborate in a 13-month testing program to evaluate fuel performance across virtually all foreseeable operating scenarios. TRISO-X is the first commercially-produced SMR fuel to undergo testing of this rigor, marking a significant milestone in the X-energy’s efforts to support national energy security through the establishment of a secure, domestic supply of high-quality advanced nuclear fuel.

The X-energy Pebble Reactor Test (XPeRT) allows the DOE to independently evaluate how TRISO-X fuel performs under various power levels, temperatures, and burnup conditions relevant to the Xe-100 SMR design. While largely confirmatory in nature, the testing will gather primary performance data to fulfill key requirements by the NRC for all advanced reactor designs seeking commercial deployment, plus milestones established under the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

The testing will occur at INL’s Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), the largest and most powerful research reactor in the world, and a critical proving ground for nuclear fuels historically. Follow-on post-irradiation examination at INL and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will measure the fuel’s fission-product retention and structural stability under the full range of expected commercial operating conditions.

"What began in Oak Ridge as a pioneering effort to advance TRISO manufacturing is now leading the way in qualifying the fuel that will power the next generation of reactors," said the CEO of X-energy. "TRISO-X embodies decades of U.S. innovation in fuel design, and this testing program brings us one step closer to our goal of redefining the standard for safety and reliability in nuclear energy."

X-energy's TX-1 fuel fabrication facility is currently under construction in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and is poised to become the first NRC-licensed Category II nuclear fuel fabrication facility licensed in over fifty years.
Copyright © 2025 LCG Consulting. All rights reserved. Terms and Copyright
UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power Model
Uniform Storage Model
A Battery Simulation Model
UPLAN-ACE
Day Ahead and Real Time Market Simulation
UPLAN-G
The Gas Procurement and Competitive Analysis System
PLATO
Database of Plants, Loads, Assets, Transmission...
CAISO CRR Auctions
Monthly Price and Congestion Forecasting Service