[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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