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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

Comments by Enron's Lay Arouse Indian Ire

LCG, Aug. 27, 2001--Kenneth Lay, chairman and once again chief executive of Enron Corp., has reassured Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he had not advocated U.S. sanctions against India if Enron lost a significant portion of its investment in the Dabhol Power Project in the state of Maharashtra.

Indian government officials were outraged by Lay's reported comments in an interview with the Financial Times last week, in which the newspaper quoted him as saying "If they try to squeeze us down to something less than cost then it basically becomes an expropriation by the Indian government, and that would send an incredibly damaging signal to the international capital markets and investment community as to making any future investments in India."

The Financial Times reported that Lay followed that remark by noting that there are U.S. laws "that could prevent the U.S. government from providing any aid or assistance or other things to India going forward if, in fact, they expropriate property of U.S. companies."

In a letter to Vajpayee, Lay said "I have not asked anyone in the U.S. government to consider sanctions. I did not say that the Dabhol Power issue had been expropriated," according to an official of Enron India.

The brouhaha stems from Enron's statement two weeks ago that it would accept $1 billion for its investment in Dabhol, its 2,184 megawatt power project in Maharashtra which is India's largest single foreign investment.

A 740 megawatt "first phase" of Dabhol was completed a year ago and immediately ran into problems collecting its electric bills from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Each month, Enron was forced to invoke guarantees by Maharashtra state and the Indian federal government to secure payment, and the MSEB still owes the company for about a month's power.

Both the MSEB and Maharashtra state were party to agreements signed in the mid-1990s which set the tariffs for Dabhol, but now demand that the contracts be renegotiated, something Enron has refused to do.

In May, the MSEB unilaterally canceled its power purchase agreement with Dabhol Power Co., something Enron says it had no right to do. The U.S. company then shut down construction on the 2,144 megawatt "second phase" of the plant, which was to have been completed this summer.

In his letter to Vajpayee, Lay said "I had fully explained the several possible options including how one might get expropriation and the U.S. law in place to protect its businesses. It is far from suggesting that we have decided to pursue this medium."

Summing up, Lay told the prime minister "My discussion seems to have caused significant and a lot of unintended concern."

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