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PJM Reports Resources Are Adequate to Meet Growing Summer Demand

LCG, May 7, 2026--PJM issued today its Summer Outlook 2026, which forecasts sufficient generation for typical peak demand this summer. PJM states that it is prepared to call on contracted demand response resources to reduce electricity use during times of high system stress.

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NRC Approves Oklo's Principal Design Criteria Topical Report for Aurora Powerhouse

LCG, May 6, 2026--Oklo Inc. ("Oklo"), an advanced nuclear technology company, announced today that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved the Principal Design Criteria (PDC) topical report for the Aurora-INL (Idaho National Laboratory) nuclear small modular reactor (SMR), which is currently under construction in Idaho. The PDC topical report establishes a regulatory framework that defines the fundamental safety, reliability, and performance requirements to guide future reactor licensing and design activities, and the approved report should simplify future applications and reduce the need to re-review established material.

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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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