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NuScale Power Achieves Standard Design Approval from NRC for 77 MW SMR

LCG, May 30, 2025--NuScale Power Corporation (NuScale), a leading provider of advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology, yesterday announced that it has received design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its uprated 77 MW power modules. NuScale states that it remains the only SMR technology company with design approval from the NRC, and the company remains on track for deployment by 2030, with 50- and 77-MW SMR options.

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EIA Presents Analysis of California's Solar and Wind Power Curtailment Challenges

LCG, May 29, 2025--The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released an analysis yesterday showing that the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, is increasing its curtailment of the rapidly growing solar- and wind-powered generation facilities in order to balance electricity supply and demand, which is necessary to maintain a stable electric system.

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Industry News

Re-regulation of Energy Derivatives Encounters Opposition

LCG, Mar. 21, 2002--A measure in a bill sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would bring energy derivatives back under regulatory supervision is being opposed by Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Tex. and other Republican senators.

Oversight of over-the-counter swaps and trading on electronic exchanges, such as Enron Online, ended with passage of the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Gramm, supported in his opposition by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, said that a connection between lack of oversight and the collapse of Enron was false. Swaps, often used to substitute fixed price purchases for floating price purchases, are typically used to manage and hedge risk. Trading in derivatives was a highly profitable activity for Enron.

Feinstein said in a Senate floor speech, "there is no transparency, no record-keeping and no oversight of trades...We do not know the price of terms for 90 per cent of the energy transactions that take place." She alleged that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission lacks oversight necessary to investigate fully what role derivatives trading might have played during the California power crisis.

A letter to Gramm from Greenspan and O'Neill said that reviving oversight of derivatives "could re-introduce legal uncertainties into off-exchange derivatives markets and other markets." They said that derivatives' contribution to risk-management would be harmed by regulation.

The Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 was passed with strong assistance from Gramm, the former banking committee chairman. He and his wife, Wendy Gramm, had strong relationships with Enron officials. Mrs. Gramm served on the company audit committee.
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