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EPA Announces Proposed Rule Action to Revise ELG's and Support Reliable, Affordable Coal-fired Power Plants

LCG, May 14, 2026--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it is proposing a rule to revise wastewater limits, known as effluent limitations guidelines (ELG), for steam electric power plants that will help improve grid reliability and lower electricity prices while continuing to support clean and safe water resources. If finalized, the EPA's proposal is estimated to reduce electricity generation costs by as much as $1.1 billion annually, which could provide cost-savings to American consumers.

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DOE Awards $94 Million to Eight American Companies to Accelerate SMR Deployments and Develop Supply Chain

LCG, May 14, 2026--The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of eight companies to support the near-term deployment of advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs) in the United States. The DOE states that awardees will collectively receive more than $94 million in Federal cost-shared funding to spur additional Gen III+ SMR deployments by addressing key gaps that have hindered the domestic nuclear industry in licensing, supply chain, and site preparation.

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Industry News

PPL Explores Development of New Nuclear Reactor

LCG, June 14, 2007--PPL Corp. is considering the construction of a third reactor at its Susquehanna plant in northeastern Pennsylvania. PPL has notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of its plans to submit an application for a combined construction and operating license (COL). Furthermore, PPL filed a request with the PJM Interconnection for preliminary transmission interconnection studies for the Susquehanna site.

The existing Susquehanna plant consists of two reactors with a combined electric generating capacity of 2,360 MW. The operating licenses for Susquehanna 1 and 2 were issued in 1982 and 1984, respectively, and the licenses for Susquehanna 1 and 2 expire in 2022 and 2024. The facility is jointly owned by PPL Susquehanna, LLC and Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc. and is operated by PPL Susquehanna.

Filing the application for a COL with the NRC should enable PPL to meet the application submittal schedule criteria for receiving financial incentives included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. PPL estimates the cost to proceed with the licensing phase to be approximately $70 million, which would primarily be spent by the end of next year.

PPL stated that it has not yet made a decision to move forward with construction. In addition, given the market, construction and regulatory uncertainties, along with the large capital commitment for a nuclear project, PPL would proceed with construction only in a joint venture arrangement.

PPL's interest in developing new nuclear reactors is not unique, especially given current concerns with respect to climate change and a corresponding effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels. In that nuclear reactors emit no greenhouse gases, many companies are now cautiously pursuing nuclear power, and new reactor designs are being planned as well.

Up until recently, most of the nuclear development activity was led by utilities in the Southeast, like Duke, Dominion, Southern Company, TVA, Entergy and Progress, and these companies generally planned on using either Westinghouse or GE passive nuclear designs. This year, utilities outside of the Southeast have stepped forward to pursue the development of nuclear reactors, typically through the addition of reactors at existing nuclear sites. For example, last month UniStar Nuclear notified the NRC that it has selected a site adjacent to Constellation Energy's existing Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland for Unistar's first COL application. Unistar Nuclear's application will include AREVA's 1,600-MW, U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (US EPR).

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in March announced that it had received an order for two nuclear reactors from TXU Corp. and that it plans to submit its application to receive the reactor design certification from the NRC by the end of 2007. The order is for two US-APWRs, Mitsubishi's new pressurized water reactor. The generating capacity of each reactor is 1,700 MW. The new reactors are targeted to be built near Dallas and are scheduled to commence commercial operations between 2015 and 2020.

DTE Energy in February announced that it is preparing a license application to construct and operate a nuclear power plant at a site near the existing Fermi 2 reactor in Michigan. DTE anticipates filing its application with the NRC toward the latter part of 2008, which would meet the application submittal schedule criteria for receiving financial incentives included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.





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