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Holtec Signs Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Utah and Hi Tech Solutions to Deploy Nuclear SMRs

LCG, May 1, 2025--Holtec International (Holtec) announced the signing on April 29 of a strategic cooperation agreement with the State of Utah and Hi Tech Solutions, a leading nuclear services provider based in Kennewick, Washington, to collaborate in the deployment of Holtec's SMR-300s (small modular reactor) in Utah and the broader Mountain West region. Hi Tech will play a leading role in the project development and workforce training to support the rise of new nuclear power generation in the region.

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EPA and Texas Railroad Commission Sign Memorandum of Agreement for Permitting Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide

LCG, April 29, 2025--Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) today outlining the state’s plans to administer programs related to carbon storage wells, known as Class VI wells. The MOA signing is a required step in the RRC’s application to be granted authority to permit Class VI wells in the state of Texas. EPA is currently preparing a proposed approval of RRC’s primacy application.

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Industry News

What FERC Found Wrong with California Regulation

LCG, Nov. 3, 2000--An investigation into the California electricity market by the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found a lot of things wrong with the ways in which state regulators and politicians have handled the deregulated power industry, but three problems cause most of the trouble.

In the first place, there were no identifiable bogeymen behind the run-up in electricity prices this past summer. The high wholesale prices -- ultimately high retail prices to customers of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. -- were the work of competitive market forces, known to economists as the law of supply and demand.

FERC's staff said that unusually high temperatures for protracted periods coupled with an insufficiency of generation resources were the main cause of the high prices, though increased power production costs played a part.

In the second place, FERC found that the way the California Independent System Operator handles the problem of replacement reserves -- going into the market to buy power when margins fall below specified levels -- actually increases market prices. The staff recommended an overhaul of Cal-ISO's market rules.

Third, and possibly most significant, was FERC's finding that the deregulation law's requirement that the state's three investor-owned utilities make all their electricity transactions through the California Power Exchange placed the companies at the mercy of the volatile spot market while denying them risk management options such as long-term power supply contacts to replace capacity lost when they were forced to divest generation assets.

George Sladoje, chief executive of Cal-PX, agreed with FERC and implied that his exchange should have been a voluntary market all along. "The proposed elimination of the mandatory must buy-sell requirement is consistent with independent governance and the market and regulatory flexibility that the Cal-PX had anticipated," he said.

The FERC staff also noted with some dismay that there seemed to be no response on the part of the load to the high prices. Apparently times are so good that electricity customers shrugged their shoulders and kept burning power during peak periods, and then complained to regulators and politicians who just made matters worse.

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