[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 124 (Wednesday, June 28, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36833-36834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-10194]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 70-36, 70-1151]


Notice of Consideration of Request for Consent to Transfer of 
Materials Licenses Westinghouse Electric Company

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of consideration of request from Westinghouse Electric 
Company for consent to transfer of materials licenses.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Adams, Senior Project Manager, 
Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and 
Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 
415-7249; fax number: (301) 415-5955; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
approval of an application (the application) from Westinghouse Electric 
Company (Westinghouse), submitted on April 21, 2006, for consent to 
indirect change of control with respect to materials licenses, from its 
parent company British Nuclear Fuels PLC (BNFL) to Toshiba Corporation 
(Toshiba).
    The filing and requested NRC consent is necessitated by the planned 
sale by BNFL of its entire interest in Westinghouse to Toshiba. The 
applicant described the transaction as follows: BNFL currently controls 
all interest in Westinghouse through its wholly owned holding company, 
BNFL USA Group, Inc. (BNFL USA). To accomplish the purchase of all of 
BNFL's interest in Westinghouse, Toshiba would form an intermediate 
holding company (NewCo), which would subsequently issue its shares to 
Toshiba and possibly other minority investors. Toshiba, however, would 
maintain ownership over a majority of shares in NewCo (51% or more of 
the membership interest). Once complete, BNFL will sell 100% of its 
shares of BNFL USA (and Westinghouse) to NewCo. Therefore, through its 
majority ownership of NewCo, and NewCo's entire ownership of 
Westinghouse, Toshiba would maintain indirect control of Westinghouse. 
The applicant stated that Toshiba would at all times maintain majority 
control of at least 51% of the membership interest in Westinghouse, and 
that no minority ownership would constitute a change of control of 
Westinghouse.
    The application states that there would be no change to 
Westinghouse's operations, corporate structure, key operating personnel 
or licensed activities as a result of the transaction and the indirect 
change of control. Westinghouse would remain a U.S. company and would 
continue to be headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. Westinghouse would 
continue to be the holder of the licenses, approvals, and certificates 
listed above after the closing of the transaction and the indirect 
change of control. Westinghouse will remain technically and financially 
qualified as the licensee and will continue to fulfill all 
responsibilities as the licensee. The application states that no 
amendments to the licenses, approvals, and certificates will be 
necessary in connection with this request for consent.
    This license transfer, if approved, would affect Special Nuclear 
Material Licenses SNM-33 and SNM-1107. License SNM-33 authorizes 
Westinghouse to possess and use source, special nuclear, and byproduct 
material at its former fuel fabrication facility in Hematite, Missouri, 
for the purpose of decommissioning the facility. License SNM-1107 
authorizes Westinghouse to possess and use source, special nuclear, and 
byproduct material at the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in 
Columbia, South Carolina.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 70.36, no license granted under the regulations 
in Part 70 and no right to possess or utilize special nuclear material 
granted by any license issued pursuant to the regulations in Part 70 
shall be transferred, assigned or in any manner disposed of, either 
voluntarily or involuntarily, directly or indirectly, through transfer 
of control of any license to any person unless the Commission shall, 
after securing full information, find that the transfer is in 
accordance with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended (AEA), and shall give its consent in writing. The Commission 
will approve an application for the transfer of a license if the 
Commission determines that the proposed transferee is qualified to hold 
the license, and that the transfer is otherwise consistent with 
applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the 
Commission pursuant thereto. An Environmental Assessment (EA) will not 
be performed because this action is categorically excluded from the 
requirement to perform an EA pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(c)(21).

[[Page 36834]]

II. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at 
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide 
Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and 
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession number for 
the document related to this notice is ML061160195. If you do not have 
access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents 
located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference 
staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to [email protected].
    These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public 
computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 F21, One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction 
contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of June, 2006.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Gary S. Janosko,
Chief, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and 
Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
 [FR Doc. E6-10194 Filed 6-27-06; 8:45 am]
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