December 31, 2025–Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News (Sugar Land, Texas)–Duke Energy Corporation (Charlotte, North Carolina) has taken a preliminary step in placing one or more small modular reactors (SMRs) at its Belews Creek site in North Carolina. This week, Duke submitted an early site permit application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the placement of a nuclear unit at the existing two-unit coal- and natural gas-fired plant in Stokes County.
An early site permit application is an optional initial step in the nuclear application process that, in essence, puts out some preliminary feelers and declares construction interest in a somewhat noncommittal way. There’s no commitment to any specific generating capacity, nor to any particular type of technology.
