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RWE Commissions the 200-MW Stoneridge Solar Project in Texas

LCG, November 26, 2025--RWE announced today the commissioning of the Stoneridge Solar project, located in Milam County, Texas. The project capacity is 200 MW of solar power, plus a battery energy storage system (BESS) that provides 100 MW (200 MWh) of battery storage capacity. The BESS improves the supply of short-term, reliable, affordable electricity in ERCOT.

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Oklo and Siemens Energy Sign Agreement to Accelerate Power Conversion System for New SMR in Idaho

LCG, November 19, 2025--Oklo Inc. and Siemens Energy announced today that the parties have signed a binding contract for the design and delivery of the power conversion system for Oklo’s Aurora-INL (Idaho National Laboratory) nuclear small modular reactor (SMR). The agreement authorizes Siemens Energy to begin engineering and design work to expedite procurement of long-lead components and to initiate the manufacturing process for the power conversion system. Oklo’s expertise in advanced fission technology will be combined with Siemens Energy’s extensive industry experience with steam turbine and generator systems, with the ultimate goal of generating carbon-free, reliable electricity.

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Industry News

Mini Nuclear Power Plants in the Basement?

LCG, Aug. 23, 2001--Move aside, fuel cells, Japan's Atomic Energy Research Institute is funding development of a nuclear power plant so small it will fit into the basement of an apartment building, New Scientist Magazine says in its issue bearing Saturday's date.

The 200 kilowatt reactor, conceived of as a power source for colonies on the moon, measures only six and one-half feet by 20 feet, and would not look out of place beside other service equipment located in the cellar of a commercial building.

The Japanese scientists are pursuing development of the Rapid-L because of growing difficulty in licensing new conventional or nuclear power plants.

"In the future it will be quite difficult to construct further large nuclear power plants because of site restrictions," Mitsuru Kambe, head of the research team at Japan's Central Research Institute of Electrical Power Industry told New Scientist.

"To relieve peak loads in the future, I believe small, modular reactors located in urban areas such as Tokyo Bay will be effective," he said.
The Rapid-L is not a scaled-down version of your everyday nuke. For one thing, it uses molten lithium-6 as a coolant in a system which the researchers say will automatically shut down if it overheats. Conventional nuclear reactors use solid rods made of hafnium to control the rate at which the nuclear fuel releases energy and thereby control the temperature of the reactor.

The rods, which control the reaction by absorbing neutrons which split nuclei of uranium-235 and release more neutrons to split more uranium nuclei, which is the chain reaction. When hafnium control rods are inserted among zirconium fuel rods filled with uranium pellets, the reaction is stopped. When they are withdrawn, the reaction resumes.

Power plant operators and their equipment move the control rods in and out of the bundles of fuel rods to control conventional nuclear power plants within precise limits.

Japanese researchers intend to make the process automatic by using molten lithium-6. As the reactor temperature rises, the molten metal expands and rises through tubes into the reactor core, absorbing neutrons and controlling the chain reaction. To picture the lithium-6 rising as it heats, imagine a thermometer filled with mercury.

Kambe is optimistic about the Rapid-L and realistic about its future -- they are not the same.

"Rapid-L power plants could be used in developing countries where remote regions cannot be conveniently connected to the main grid," he told the magazine.

But noting Japan's recent history of nuclear accidents, he added "The success of such a reactor depends on the acceptance of the public, the electricity utilities and the government."

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