[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 117 (Friday, June 18, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34197-34198]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-13750]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-305; License No. DPR-43]
In the Matter of Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, Wisconsin
Power and Light Company, and Nuclear Management Company, LLC (Kewaunee
Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1); Order Approving Transfer of Operating
Authority and Conforming Amendment
I
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPSC), Wisconsin Power and
Light Company (WPL), and Nuclear Management Company, LLC (NMC) (the
licensees), are the holders of Facility Operating License No. DPR-43,
which authorizes operation of Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1
(Kewaunee or the facility). The facility is located at the licensees'
site in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. The license authorizes WPSC and WPL
to possess, and NMC to use and operate, Kewaunee.
II
By application dated December 19, 2003, as supplemented February 18
and March 17, 2004, NMC, acting on behalf of itself and WPSC and WPL,
requested approval of the transfer of Facility Operating License No.
DPR-43 for Kewaunee from NMC, WPSC, and WPL to Dominion Energy
Kewaunee, Inc. (Dominion Energy Kewaunee). NMC also requested approval
of a conforming license amendment to reflect the transfer. The initial
application and the supplements are hereinafter referred to as ``the
application'' unless otherwise indicated. The application is in
connection with the sale of the respective ownership interests in
Kewaunee currently held by WPSC (59 percent) and WPL (41 percent) to
Dominion Energy Kewaunee and the related transfer of operating
authority for the facility from NMC to Dominion Energy Kewaunee. The
application also requested a conforming amendment to reflect the
transfer. The proposed amendment would reflect the proposed transfer of
ownership and operating authority for Kewaunee to Dominion Energy
Kewaunee; delete references to NMC, WPSC, and WPL in the license;
change the name of Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant to Kewaunee Power
Station to reflect the name under which Dominion Energy Kewaunee plans
to operate the facility, consistent with other nuclear plants owned by
Dominion companies; and authorize Dominion Energy Kewaunee to possess,
use, and operate Kewaunee, and to possess and use related licensed
materials, under the same conditions and authorizations as in the
current license.
Approval of the transfer of operating authority under the facility
operating license and conforming license amendment was requested by NMC
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80 and 50.90. Notice of the application for
approval and an opportunity for a hearing was published in the Federal
Register on January 20, 2004 (69 FR 2734). No hearing requests or
written comments were received.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder,
shall be transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of
control of the license, unless the Commission shall give its consent in
writing. After reviewing the information in NMC's application and other
information before the Commission, and relying upon the representations
and agreements contained in the application, the NRC staff has
determined that Dominion Energy Kewaunee is qualified to hold the
license and that the transfer of the license to Dominion Energy
Kewaunee is otherwise consistent with applicable provisions of law,
regulations, and orders issued by the Commission,
[[Page 34198]]
subject to the conditions set forth below. The NRC staff has further
found that the application for the proposed license amendment complies
with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954,
as amended, and the Commission's rules and regulations set forth in 10
CFR chapter 1; the facility will operate in conformity with the
application, the provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations
of the Commission; there is reasonable assurance that the activities
authorized by the proposed license amendment can be conducted without
endangering the health and safety of the public and that such
activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's
regulations; the issuance of the proposed license amendment will not be
inimical to the common defense and security or the health and safety of
the public; and the issuance of the proposed amendment will be in
accordance with 10 CFR part 51 of the Commission's regulations and all
applicable requirements have been satisfied. The foregoing findings are
supported by a safety evaluation dated June 10, 2004.
III
Accordingly, pursuant to sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234,
and 10 CFR 50.80, it is hereby ordered that the transfer of the license
as described herein to Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc., is approved,
subject to the following conditions:
(1) After receipt of all required regulatory approvals of the
license transfer to Dominion Energy Kewaunee, NMC and Dominion Energy
Kewaunee shall inform the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, in writing of such receipt within 5 business days and of
the date of the closing of the transfer no later than 7 business days
before the date of closing. If the transfer is not completed by June
30, 2005, this Order shall become null and void, with the provision
that, upon written application and for good cause shown, such date may
in writing be extended.
(2) Dominion Energy Kewaunee shall take no action to cause Dominion
Resources, Inc., or its successors and assigns, to void, cancel, or
diminish their $60 million contingency commitment to Dominion Energy
Kewaunee, the existence of which is represented in a Support Agreement
in a letter to the NRC dated February 18, 2004, or cause them to fail
to perform or impair their performance under the commitment, or remove
or interfere with Dominion Energy Kewaunee's ability to draw upon the
commitment. Also, Dominion Energy Kewaunee shall inform the NRC in
writing any time that it draws upon the $60 million commitment.
(3) Dominion Energy Kewaunee is required to provide qualified
decommissioning funds with a net (after tax) cash value of no less than
$391.9 million for radiological decommissioning purposes. The funds
will be deposited in an external trust fund to be segregated from
Dominion Energy Kewaunee's other assets and outside its administrative
control, as required by NRC regulations, and Dominion Energy Kewaunee
shall take all necessary steps to ensure that this external trust fund
is maintained in accordance with the requirements of the Order
approving the transfer of the Kewaunee operating license and with the
safety evaluation supporting the Order.
(4) Prior to completion of the transfer of the Kewaunee operating
license, Dominion Energy Kewaunee shall provide the Director, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, satisfactory documentary evidence that it
has obtained the appropriate amount of insurance required of licensees
under 10 CFR part 140 of the Commission's regulations.
It is further ordered that consistent with 10 CFR 2.1315(b), a
license amendment that makes changes, as indicated in Enclosure 2 to
the cover letter forwarding this Order, to conform the license to
reflect the subject license transfer is approved. The amendment shall
be issued and made effective at the time the proposed transfer is
completed.
This Order is effective upon issuance.
For further details with respect to this action, see the initial
application datedDecember 19, 2003, and supplements dated February 18
and March 17, 2004, and the safety evaluation dated June 10, 2004 ,
which are available for public inspection at the Commission's Public
Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and are accessible electronically
through the ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room link at the NRC Web
site (http://www.nrc.gov).
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of June, 2004.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
J. Dyer,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 04-13750 Filed 6-17-04; 8:45 am]
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