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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

Rates Up, But Dereg Working, Massachusetts Officials Say

LCG, Jan. 26, 2001Massachusetts electric customers are seeing two bumps in their bills this month that increase the cost of power to the average customer by 15 percent to 20 percent, but state and utility officials say deregulation is working the way it's supposed to.

One of the increases is for sharply higher fuel costs for power plants, which will cost the average householder $6.61, while another $2.00 brings the utilities up to date for fuel costs they were not allowed to pass through to consumers for the first three years of deregulation in Massachusetts.

State officials say that the higher prices are one reason deregulation is working in Massachusetts and not in California.

David O'Connor, head of the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources, said "Everyone is grumpy, but the lights are still on here. We're taking care of our problems as they come up."

The Massachusetts Public Interest Group's Rob Sargent thinks backers of electric deregulation are looking at their handiwork from the wrong angle. "Their yardstick seems to be that it's not as bad as California, therefore it must be working," he said.

But regulators say they would rather have the utilities keep abreast of their costs, rather than be forced into insolvency, as has happened in California. They point out that the fuel costs would have been passed through to ratepayers, deregulation or not.

Also, they point out, Massachusetts is allowing new power plant construction, another sharp difference with California. O'Connor said nine new plants have been built in the past three years and eight more are scheduled to begin operation over the next few years.

"There's almost no way we will continue to see the wholesale prices we're seeing with those plants coming online," he said. "The prices have got to come down."

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