[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20402-20403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-7773]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-498 and 50-499; License Nos. NPF-76 and NPF-80]


In the Matter of Centerpoint Energy, Inc., Texas Genco, LLC 
(South Texas Project Units 1 and 2); Order Approving Application 
Regarding Proposed Acquisition

I.

    STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) and owners Texas Genco, LP 
(Texas Genco), the City Public Service Board of San Antonio (CPS), AEP 
Texas Central Company (TCC), and the City of Austin, Texas (COA) are 
holders of Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-76 and NPF-80, which 
authorize the possession, use, and operation of the South Texas 
Project, Units 1 and 2 (the facility or STP). STPNOC is licensed by the 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) to operate STP. 
The facility is located at the licensees' site in Matagorda County, 
Texas.

II.

    By application dated October 12, 2004, as supplemented by letters 
dated December 13 and 22, 2004, and February 23 and March 1, 2005 
(collectively referred to herein as the application), STPNOC, acting on 
behalf of Texas Genco, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CenterPoint Energy), 
and GC Power Acquisition LLC (renamed Texas Genco LLC) (together, the 
Applicants), requested that the NRC, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, consent 
to the indirect license transfers that would be effected by the 
indirect transfer of control of Texas Genco's ownership interest in the 
facility. This action is being sought as a result of the transfer of 
Texas Genco's indirect parent company, Texas Genco Holdings, Inc. 
(TGN), from Centerpoint Energy to Texas Genco LLC. No changes to the 
facility licenses are proposed in the application.
    In a separate request, Texas Genco is seeking approval of direct 
license transfers that would occur in connection with increasing its 
ownership interest in STP from its current 30.8 percent to either 44 
percent or 56 percent, through an acquisition of all or part of TCC's 
25.2 percent interest in STP. A separate Order is being issued to 
address that request.
    In connection with the indirect transfer of control of Texas 
Genco's ownership interest in the facility, indirect control over Texas 
Genco's related interest in STPNOC, a not-for-profit Texas corporation 
that is the licensed operator of STP, will also be transferred. To the 
extent that the indirect transfer of control of Texas Genco's interest 
in STPNOC would constitute an indirect transfer of control of the 
licenses as held by STPNOC, consent under 10 CFR 50.80 is also being 
sought.
    Approval of the indirect transfer of the facility operating 
licenses was requested by STPNOC pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80. Notice of 
the request for approval and an opportunity for a hearing was published 
in the Federal Register on November 17, 2004 (69 FR 67368). No comments 
or hearing requests were received.
    Under 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. Upon 
review of the information in the application by STPNOC and other 
information before the Commission, the NRC staff has determined that 
the proposed indirect transfer of control of Texas Genco's parent 
company will not affect the qualifications of Texas Genco as holder of 
the STP licenses, whether Texas Genco holds a 30.8 percent, 44 percent, 
or 56 percent interest in STP, and that the indirect transfer of 
control of the licenses as held by Texas Genco under each of the three 
scenarios discussed, to the extent effected by the transfer of control 
of Texas Genco, is otherwise consistent with the applicable provisions 
of laws, regulations, and orders issued by the NRC pursuant thereto, 
subject to the conditions discussed herein. The NRC staff also 
concludes that, to the extent Texas Genco holds a 30.8 percent, 44 
percent, or 56 percent interest in STPNOC by reason of Texas Genco's 
acquisition of a part or all of TCC's 25.2 percent interest in the 
facility and STPNOC, and control of Texas Genco is then indirectly 
transferred to Texas Genco LLC, any resulting indirect transfer of 
control of STPNOC will not affect STPNOC's qualifications to hold the 
facility licenses to the extent now held by

[[Page 20403]]

STPNOC, and that the indirect transfer of the licenses as held by 
STPNOC, to the extent effected by the proposed indirect transfer of 
control of Texas Genco to Texas Genco LLC, is otherwise consistent with 
applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the 
Commission, subject to the conditions set forth below.
    The findings set forth above are supported by a safety evaluation 
dated

III.

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, 161o, and 184 of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), 42 U.S.C. 2201(b), 
2201(I), 2201(o), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, it is hereby ordered that 
the application regarding the indirect license transfers related to the 
proposed acquisition is approved, subject to the following conditions:
    1. Texas Genco shall take no action to cause Texas Genco LLC, or 
its successors and assigns, to void, cancel, or modify its $120 million 
contingency commitment to Texas Genco, as represented in the 
application, or cause it to fail to perform or impair its performance 
under the commitment, or remove or interfere with Texas Genco's ability 
to draw upon the commitment, without the prior written consent of the 
Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. An executed copy 
of the Support Agreement shall be submitted to the NRC no later than 30 
days after completion of the indirect license transfers. Also, Texas 
Genco shall inform the NRC in writing any time that it draws upon the 
$120 million commitment.
    2. Should the proposed acquisition of control of Texas Genco by 
Texas Genco LLC not be completed within one year from date of issuance, 
this Order shall become null and void, provided, however, upon written 
application and good cause shown, such date may in writing be extended.
    This Order is effective upon issuance.
    For further details with respect to this Order, see the initial 
application dated October 12, 2004, and supplemental letters dated 
December 13 and 22, 2004, and February 23 and March 1, 2005, and the 
safety evaluation dated April 4, 2005, which are available for public 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at 
One White Flint North, Public File Area 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike 
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland and accessible electronically from 
the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to 
ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in 
ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-
800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of April, 2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
J. E. Dyer,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 05-7773 Filed 4-18-05; 8:45 am]
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