18. CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS
From time to time, the Corporation and its subsidiaries are involved in legal proceedings that are incidental to the operation of our business. Some of these proceedings allege damages relating to asbestos and environmental exposures, intellectual property matters, copyright infringement, personal injury claims, employment and employee benefit matters, government contract issues, commercial or contractual disputes, and acquisitions or divestitures. The Corporation continues to defend vigorously against all claims. Although the ultimate outcome of any legal matter cannot be predicted with certainty, based on present information, including assessment of the merits of the particular claim, as well as current accruals and insurance coverage, the Corporation does not believe that the disposition of any of these matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Legal Proceedings
The Corporation has been named in a number of lawsuits that allege injury from exposure to asbestos. To date, the Corporation has not been found liable for or paid any material sum of money in settlement in any asbestos-related case. The Corporation believes its minimal use of asbestos in its past operations and the relatively non-friable condition of asbestos in its products
make it unlikely that it will face material liability in any asbestos litigation, whether individually or in the aggregate. The Corporation maintains insurance coverage for these potential liabilities and believes adequate coverage exists to cover any unanticipated asbestos liability. The Corporation is party to a number of other legal actions and claims, none of which individually or in the aggregate, in the opinion of management, are expected to have a material effect on the Corporation’s results of operations or financial position.
Letters of Credit and Other Arrangements
The Corporation enters into standby letters of credit agreements and guarantees with financial institutions and customers primarily relating to guarantees of repayment, future performance on certain contracts to provide products and services, and to secure advance payments from certain international customers. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, there were $25 million and $21 million of stand-by letters of credit outstanding, respectively, and $12 million and $15 million of bank guarantees outstanding, respectively.
The Corporation, through its EMD business unit, has three Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ("PADEP") radioactive materials licenses that are utilized in the continued operation of the EMD business. In connection with these licenses, the Corporation has known conditional asset retirement obligations related to asset decommissioning activities to be performed in the future, when the Corporation terminates these licenses. As of December 31, 2025, the Corporation has recorded an asset retirement obligation of approximately $10 million for two of the three licenses. For its third license, the Corporation has not recorded an asset retirement obligation as it is not reasonably estimable due to insufficient information about the timing and method of settlement of the obligation. Accordingly, this obligation has not been recorded in the Consolidated Financial Statements. A liability for this obligation will be recorded in the period when sufficient information regarding timing and method of settlement becomes available to make a reasonable estimate of the liability’s fair value. The Corporation is required to provide the Nuclear Regulatory Commission financial assurance demonstrating its ability to cover the cost of decommissioning its Cheswick, Pennsylvania facility upon closure, though the Corporation does not intend to close this facility. The Corporation has provided this financial assurance in the form of a $40 million surety bond effective through December 31, 2025.